UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 
Donated  in  memory  of 

John  VL    Snvder 

by 

His  Son  and  Daughter 


: ;- !  m  1 -  • 


•  '•-    ' 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS 


184O  to    1872. 


GEORGE  VV.  JULIAN. 


CHICAGO: 
JANSEN,  McCLURG  &  COMPANY. 

1884. 


COHYRIOHr 

BY  JAN3EN.    McCLURO   A  CO., 
A.  D.  188S. 


PREFACE. 

The  following  chapters  are  devoted  mainly  to 
facts  and  incidents  connected  with  the  develop- 
ment of  anti-slavery  politics  from  the  year  1840  to 
the  close  of  the  work  of  Reconstruction  which 
followed  the  late  civil  war.  Other  topics,  how- 
ever, are  occasionally  noticed,  while  I  have  deemed 
it  proper  to  state  my  own  attitude  and  course  of 
action  respecting  various  public  questions,  and  to 
refer  more  particularly  to  the  political  strifes  of 
my  own  State.  In  doing  this,  I  have  spoken  freely 
of  conspicuous  personalities  in  connection  with 
their  public  action,  or  their  peculiar  relations  to 
myself;  but  my  aim  has  been  to  deal  fairly  and 
state  only  the  truth,  while  striving  to  weave  into 
my  story  some  reminiscences  of  the  men  and 
events  of  by-gone  times,  which  may  interest  the 
reader.  In  the  endeavor  to  elucidate  the  orderly 
progress  of  anti-slavery  opinions  and  their  trans- 
lation into  organized  action,  I  have  summarized 
(3) 


4  PREFACE. 

and  re-stated  many  of  the  familiar  facts  of  current 
American  politics  during  the  period  embraced ; 
but  I  hope  I  have  also  made  a  slight  contribution 
to  the  sources  of  history  bearing  upon  a  world- 
famous  movement,  touching  which  we  should 
"  gather  up  the  fragments  that  nothing  be  lost." 

G.  W.  J. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    HARRISON    CAMPAIGN— THE    BEGINNING    OF 
ANTI-SLAVERY  POLITICS. 

The  "Hard-cider"  Frolic  of  1840 — The  Issues — Swartwout  and 
Political  Corruption — The  Demand  for  a  Change — Character 
of  Gen.  Harrison — Personal  Defamation — Mass-meetings  and 
Songs — Crushing  Defeat  of  the  Democrats — First  Appear- 
ance of  the_  Slavery  Issue  in  Politics — Pro-slavery  Attitude  of 
Harrison  and  Van  Buren — Events  favoring  the  Growth  of 
Anti-slavery  Opinion — Clay  and  Mendenhall  —Texas'  Annex- 
ation and  John  Tyler,  11-29 

CHAPTER  II. 

CAMPAIGN   OF    1844— ANNEXATION   AND    SLAVERY. 

The  Nomination  of  Clay — His  Position  on  the  Slavery  Ques- 
tion and  Annexation — Van  Buren's  Letter  to  Hammet,  and  its 
Effect  upon  the  South — His  Repudiation,  and  the  Nomina- 
tion of  Polk — The  Surprise  of  the  Country — Unbounded  Confi- 
dence of  the^Whigs — The  Course  of  the  New  York  Democrats 
— The  "Kane  Letter" — Trouble  among  the  Whigs  on  the 
Annexation  Question — Fierceness  of  the  Contest,  and  singu- 
lar Ability  of  the  Leaders — The  Effect  of  Clay's  Defeat  upon 
the  Whigs — Causes  of  the  Defeat — The  Abolitionists,  and 
the  Abuse^heaped  upon  them — Cassius  M.  Clay — Mr.  Hoar's 
Mission  to  South  Carolina — Election  of  John  P.  Hale — An- 
nexation-, and  War  with  Mexico— Folk's  Message,  and  the 
Wilmot  Proviso — The  Oregon  Question,  and  Alex.  H.  Ste- 
phens,    3°-49 

(5) 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTKR  III. 

CAMPAIGN  OF  1848—1X8  INCIDENTS  AND  RESULTS. 

Approach  of  another  Presidential  Campaign — Party  Divisions 
threatened  by  the  Wilmot  Proviso— Nomination  of  Gen.  Ca-* 
—The  "Nicholson  Letter"— •Democratic  Division  in  New 
York — Nomination  of  Gen.  Taylor — Whig  Divisions — Birth 
of  the  Free  Soil  Party — Buffalo  Convention — Nomination  <>f 
Van  Burcn  and  Adams — Difficulty  of  uniting  on  Van  Huron 
— Incidents — Rev.  Joshua  Leavitt — Work  of  the  Campaign 
— Webster  and  Free  Soil — Greeley  and  Seward — Abuse  of 
Whig  Bolters — Remarkable  Results  of  the  Canvass,  50-68 

CHAPTER  IV. 

REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS. 

Novel  Political  Complications — Compromise  Measures  —  First 
Election  to  Congress — Sketch  of  the  "Immortal  Nine" — The 
Speakership  and  Wm.  J.  Brown — Gen.  Taylor  and  the  Wil- 
mot Proviso— Slaveholding  Bluster — Compromise  Resolutions 
of  Clay  and  Retreat  of  Northern  Whijjs — Visit  to  Gen.  Tay- 
lor—To Mr.  Clay— His  Speeches— Webster's  Seventh  of 
March  Speech — Calhoun — Speech  on  the  Slavery  Ques- 
tion,    69-89 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS   (CONTINUED). 

Fracas  between  Col.  Benton  and  Senator  Foote — Character  of  Ben- 
ton— Death  of  Gen.  Taylor— The  FuneraT— Defeat  of  the 
"Omnibus  Bill" — Its  Triumph  in  Detail — Celebration  of  the 
Victory — "  Lower  Law "  Sermons  and  "Union-Saving" 
Meetings — Slaveholding  Literature — Mischievous  Legislation 
— Visit  to  Philadelphia  and  Boston — Futile  Efforts  to  sup- 
press Agitation — Andrew  Johnson  and  the  Homestead  Law — 
Effort  to  censure  Mr.  Webster — Political  Morality  in  this 
Congress — Temperance — Jefferson  Davis — John  P.  Hale — 
Thaddeus  Stevens — Extracts  from  Speeches — Famous  Men 
in  both  Houses — Free  Soilers  and  their  Vindication,  90-1 13 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 

Pro-slavery  Reaction — Indiana  and  Ohio — Race  for  Congress — 
Free  Soil  Gains  in  other  States — National  Convention  at 
Cleveland — National  Canvass  of  1852 — Nomination  of  Pierce 
and  Scott,  and  the  "  finality  "  Platforms — Free  Soil  National 
Convention — Nomination  of  Hale — Samuel  Lewis — The 
Whig  Canvass — Webster — Canvass  of  the  Democrats — Re- 
turn of  New  York  "Barnburners"  to  the  Party — The  Free 
Soil  Campaign — Stumping  Kentucky  with  Clay — Rev.  John 
G.  Fee — Incidents — Mob  Law  in  Indiana — Result  of  the 
Canvass — Ruin  of  the  Whigs — Disheartening  Facts — The 
other  Side  of  the  Picture, 114-132 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   REPUBLICAN  PARTY  (CONTINUED). 

A  Notable  Fugitive  Slave  Case — Inauguration  of  Pierce — Repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise — Its  Effects  upon  the  Parties — 
The  Fiee  Soil  Position — Know-Nothingism — The  Situation 
— First  Steps  in  the  Formation  of  the  Republican  Party — 
Movements  of  the  Know-Nothings — Mistake  of  the  Free 
Soilers — Anti-slavery  Progress — Election  of  Banks  as  Speaker 
— Call  for  a  Republican  National  Convention  at  Pittsburg — 
Organization  of  the  Party — The  Philadelphia  Convention  and 
its  Platform — Nomination  of  Fremont — Know-Nothing  and 
Whig  Nominations — Democratic  Nomination  and  Platform — 
The  Grand  Issue  of  the  Campaign — The  Democratic  Canvass 
— The  splendid  Fight  for  Fremont — Triumph  of  Buchanan 
— Its  Causes  and  Results — The  Teaching  of  Events,  133-157 

CHAPTER  VIII.  , 

PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM. 

The  Dred  Scott  Decision — Struggle  for  Freedom  in  Kansas — 
Instructive  Debates  in  Congress — Republican  Gains  in  the 
Thirty-fifth  Congress — The  English  Bill — Its  Defeat  and  the 
Effect — Defection  of  Douglas — Its  Advantages  and  its  Perils 
— Strange  Course  of  the  New  York  Tribune  and  other  Papers 


g  V7S. 

—  Republican  Retreat  in  Indiana — Illinois  Republicans  stand 
firm,  and  hold  the  Party  to  its  Position— Gains  in  the 
I  Inrty-sixth  (\m»io» — Southern  D.iil>.trism  and  Extravagance 
—John  Brown's  Raid — Cuba  and  the  Slave-trade — Oregon 
and  Kansas— Aid-  t<>  Anti-%1  .m-ry  Progress — The  Speakership 
.•nil  Helper's  l>ook — Southern  Insolence  and  Extravagance — 
Degradation  of  Douglas — Slave-code  for  the  Territories — 
Outrages  in  the  South— Campaign  of  1860 — Charleston  Con- 
vention and  Division  of  the  Democrats — Madness  of  the 
Factions — Bell  and  Everett — Republican  Convention  and  its 
Platform — Lincoln  and  Seward — Canvass  of  Douglas — 
Campaign  for  Lincoln — Conduct  of  Seward — Republican 
Conces»ions  and  slave-holding  Madness,  .  .  158-180 

CHAPTKk    IX. 

THE  NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  Till:  WAR. 

Visit  to  Mr.  Lincoln — Closing  Months  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Ad- 
ministration—Efforts to  avoid  War — Character  of  Buchanan 
— Lincoln's  Inauguration — His  War  Policy — The  Grand  Army 
of  Office-seekers — The  July  Session  of  Congress — The  At- 
mosphere of  Washington — Battle  of  Bull  Run — Apologetic 
Resolve  of  Congress — First  Confiscation  Act — Gen.  Fre- 
mont's Proclamation  and  its  Effect — Its  Revocation — Regular 
Session  of  Congress — Secretary  Cameron — Committee  on  t he- 
Conduct  of  the  War — Its  Conference  with  the  President  an<l 
his  Cabinet — Secretary  Stanton  and  General  McClellan — 
Order  to  inarch  upon  Mantissas,  .  .  .  181-207 

CHAITKK  X. 

THE     NEW     ADMI\ISTRATH)N      AND      THE      WAK 
(CONTINUED). 

* 

The  Wooden  Gun-. — Conference  with  Secretary  Stanton — His  Re- 
lations to  Lincoln — Strife  between  Radicalism  andC«iiM-i\ 
alism — Passage  of  the  Homestead  I  AW — Visit  to  the  Pre-i- 
dent — The  Confiscation  Act  and  Rebel  Land  owners — Grcc- 
ley*s  "Prayer  of  Twenty  Million*,"  and  Lincoln's  Reply — 
Effort  to  disband  the  Republican  Party — The  Battle  of  Fred- 


CONTENTS.  g 

ericksburg  and  General  Burnside — The  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation — Visit  to  Mr.  Lincoln — General  Fremont — 
Report  of  the  War  Committee — Visit  to  Philadelphia  and 
New  York — Gerrit  Smith — '1  he  Morgan  Raid,  .  208-233 

CHAPTER  XL 

INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE  WAR. 

Cnmpaigning  in  Ohio — Attempted  Repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law — Organized  Movement  in  Favor  of  Chase  for  the  Presi- 
dency— Confiscation  of  Rebel  Lands — Fort  Pillow,  and  the 
Treatment  of  Union  Soldiers  at  Richmond — Mr.  Lincoln's 
Letter  to  Hodges — Southern  Homestead  Bill,  and  Controversy 
with  Mr.  Mallory — Nomination  of  Andrew  Johnson — En- 
forcement of  Party  Discipline — Mr.  Lincoln's  Change  of 
Opinion  as  to  Confiscation  of  Rebel  Lands — Opposition  to 
him  in  Congress — General  Fremont  and  Montgomery  Blair — 
Visit  to  City  Point — Adoption  of  the  XIII  Constitutional 
Amendment — Trip  to  Richmond,  and  Incidents — Assassina- 
tion of  the  President — Inauguration  of  Johnson  and  An- 
nouncement of  his  Policy — Feeling  toward  Mr.  Lincoln — 
Capitulation  of  Gen.  Johnston,  ....  234-259 

CHAPTER  XII. 

RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE— THE  LAND 
QUESTION. 

Visit  of  Indianians  to  the  President — Gov.  Morton  and  Recon- 
struction— Report  of  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War — 
Discussion  of  Negro  Suffrage  and  Incidents — Personal  Matters 
— Suffrage  in  the  District  of  Columbia — The  Fourteenth  Con- 
stitutional Amendment — Breach  between  the  President  and 
Congress — Elaine  and  Conkling — Land  Bounties  and  the 
Homestead  Law, 260-280 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

MINERAL  LANDS  AND  THE  RIGHT  OF  PRE-EMPTION. 

The  Lead  and  Copper  Lands  of  the  Northwest — The  gold-bearing 
Regions  of  the  Pacific,  and  their  Disposition — A  legislative 
Reminiscence — Mining  Act  of  1866,  and  how  it  was  passed — 


10  CONTEXTS. 

to  deplorable  Failure,  and  its  Lesion  —  Report  of  lh< 
Commission—  The   Rt^ht   of    l'u-i  in|i:iun,    and  the  ••  I  >u-  I 
Scott  Decision  "  of  the  Settler*,          .        .        .        281-301 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
RECONSTRUCTION   AM)    IMi'K  .VMIMKNT. 

GOT.  Morton  and  his  Scheme  of  Gerrymandering  —  The  XIY 
Amendment  —  Hasty  Reconstruction  and  ihc  Territorial  Plan  — 
The  Military  Bill  —  Impeachment  —  An  amusing  Incident  — 
Vote  against  Impeachment  —  The  Vote  reversed  —  Ihc  popular 
Keeling  against  the  President  —  The  Trial  —  Republican  Intol- 
erance —  Injustice  to  Senators  and  to  Chief  Justice  C'h.i-i-  — 
Nomination  of  Gen.  (Irani  —  Re-nomination  for  Congress 

—  Personal  —  Squabble    of    Place-hunters  —  XVI    Amend- 
ment .........         302-325 

CHAPTER  XV. 

GRANT  AND  GREELKV. 

The  new  Cabinet—  Seeds  of  Party  Disaffection—  Trip  to  California 

—  Party  Degeneracy  —  The  liberal  Republican  Movement—  Re- 
nomination  of  Grant  —  The  Cincinnati  Convention  —  Perplex- 
ities of  the  Situation  —  The  Canvass  for  Greeley  —  Its  Bitterness 
—Its  peculiar  Features  —  The  Defeat  —  The  Vindication  of  Lib- 
erals —  Visit  to  Chase  anil  Sumner  —  Death  of  Greeley,  326-352 

CHATER  XVI. 

CONCLUDING   NOTES. 

Party  Changes  caused  by  the  Slavery  Issue  —  Notable  Men  in  Con- 
gress during  the  War  —  Sketches  of  prominent  Men  in  the 
Senate  and  House  —  Scenes  and  Incidents  —  Butler  and  Biny- 
ham  —  Cox  and  Butler  —  Judge  Kelley  and  Van  Wyck  — 
Lovejoy  and  Wickliffe  —  Washburne  and  Donnelly—  Oakes 
Ames  —  Abolitionism  in  Washington  early  in  the  War  — 
Life  at  the  Capital  —  The  new  Dispensation  and  its  Prob- 
........  .?' 


INDEX 


POLITICAL   RECOLLECTIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    HARRISON    CAMPAIGN — THE    BEGINNING   OF 
ANTI-SLAVERY    POLITICS. 

The  "hard-cider"  frolic  of  1840 — The  issues — Swartwout  and 
political  corruption — The  demand  for  a  change — Character 
of  Gen.  Harrison — Personal  defamation — Mass-meetings  and 
songs — Crushing  defeat  of  the  Democrats — First  appearance 
of  the  slavery  issue  in  politics — Pro-slavery  attitude  of  Har- 
rison and  Van  Buren — Events  favoring  the  growth  of  anti- 
slavery  opinion — Clay  and  Mendenhall — Texas  annexation 
and  John  Tyler. 

THROUGH  the  influence  of  early  associations,  I 
began  my  political  life  a  Whig,  casting  my  first 
presidential  ballot  for  General  Harrison,  in  1840. 
I  knew  next  to  nothing  of  our  party  politics ;  but 
in  the  matter  of  attending  mass-meetings,  singing 
Whig  songs  and  drinking  hard  cider,  I  played  a 
considerable  part  in  the  memorable  campaign  of 
that  year.  So  far  as  ideas  entered  into  my  sup- 
port of  the  Whig  candidate,  I  simply  regarded 
him  as  a  poor  man,  whose  home  was  a  log  cabin, 

(II) 


12  POUTICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  who  would  in  some  way  help  the  people 
through  their  scuffle  with  poverty  and  the  "  hard 
times " ;  while  I  was  fully  persuaded  that  Van 
Buren  was  not  only  a  graceless  aristocrat  and  a 
dandy,  but  a  cunning  conspirator,  seeking  the 
overthrow  of  his  country's  liberties  by  uniting  the 
sword  and  the  purse  in  his  own  clutches,  as  he 
was  often  painted  on  the  party  banners.  In  these 
impressions  I  was  by  no  means  singular.  They 
filled  the  air,  and  seemed  to  be  wafted  on  every 
breeze.  Horace  Greeley's  famous  campaign  or- 
gan, "  The  Log  Cabin,"  only  gave  them  voice  and 
fitting  pictorial  effect,  and  he  frankly  admitted  in 
later  years  that  his  Whig  appeals,  with  his  music 
and  wood  engravings  of  General  Harrison's  battle 
scenes,  were  more  "  vivid  "  than  "  sedately  argu- 
mentative." No  one  will  now  seriously  pretend 
that  this  was  a  campaign  of  ideas,  or  a  struggle 
for  political  reform  in  any  sense.  It  was  a  grand 
national  frolic,  in  which  the  imprisoned  mirth  and 
fun  of  the  people  found  such  jubilant  and  uproar- 
ious expression  that  anything  like  calmness  of 
judgment  or  real  seriousness  of  purpose  was  out 
of  the  question  in  the  Whig  camp. 

As  regards  party  issues,  General  Harrison,  sin- 
gularly enough,  was  not  a  Whig,  but  an  old  fash- 
ioned State-Rights  Democrat  of  the  Jeffersonian 
school.  His  letters  to  Harmar  Denny  and  Sherrod 
Williams  committed  him  to  none  of  the  dogmas 
which  defined  a  Whig.  No  authentic  utterance  of 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  \  3 

his  could  be  produced  in  which  he  had  ever  ex- 
pressed his  agreement  with  the  Whig  party  on  the 
questions  of  a  protective  tariff,  internal  improve- 
ments, or  a  national  bank.  There  was  very  high 
Whig  authority  for  saying  that  the  bank  question 
was  not  an  issue  of  the  canvass,  while  Van  Buren's 
great  measure  for  separating  the  currency  from  the 
banks  became  a  law  pending  the  Presidential  strug- 
gle. In  fact,  it  was  because  no  proof  of  General 
Harrison's  party  orthodoxy  could  be  found,  that  he 
was  nominated ;  and  the  Whig  managers  of  the 
Harrisburg  Convention  felt  obliged  to  sacrifice 
Henry  Clay,  which  they  did  through  the  basest 
double-dealing  and  treachery,  for  the  reason  that 
his  right  angled  character  as  a  party  leader  would 
make  him  unavailable  as  a  candidate.  As  to  John 
Tyler,  he  was  not  a  Whig  in  any  sense.  It  is  true 
that  he  had  opposed  the  removal  of  the  deposits, 
and  voted  against  Benton's  expunging  resolutions, 
but  on  all  the  regular  and  recognized  party  issues 
he  was  fully  committed  as  a  Democrat,  and  was, 
moreover,  a  nullifier.  The  sole  proof  of  his  Whig- 
gery  was  the  apocryphal  statement  that  he  wept 
when  Clay  failed  to  receive  the  nomination,  while 
his  political  position  was  perfectly  understood  by 
the  men  who  nominated  him.  There  was  one 
policy  only  on  which  they  were  perfectly  agreed, 
and  that  was  the  policy  of  avowing  no  principles 
whatever ;  and  they  tendered  but  one  issue,  and  that 
was  a  chancre  of  the  national  administration.  On 


14  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

this  issue  they  were  perfectly  united  and  thorough- 
ly in  earnest,  and  it  was  idle  to  deny  that  on  their 
own  showing  the  spoils  alone  divided  them  from 
the  Democrats  and  inspired  their  zeal. 

The  demand  of  the  Whigs  for  a  change  was 
well-founded.  Samuel  Swartwout,  the  New  York 
Collector  of  Customs,  had  disgraced  the  Govern- 
ment by  his  defalcations ;  and,  although  he  was  a 
legacy  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  "  illustrious  predeces- 
sor," and  had  been  "  vindicated  "  by  a  Senate  com- 
mittee composed  chiefly  of  his  political  opponents, 
he  was  unquestionably  a  public  swindler,  and  had 
found  shelter  under  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administra- 
tion. He  was  the  most  conspicuous  public  rascal 
of  his  time,  but  was  far  from  being  alone  in  his 
odious  notoriety.  The  system  of  public  plunder 
inaugurated  by  Jackson  was  in  full  blast,  and  an 
organized  effort  to  reform  it  was  the  real  need  of 
the  hour;  but  here  was  the  weak  point  of  the  Whigs. 
They  proceeded  upon  the  perfectly  gratuitous  as- 
sumption that  the  shameless  abuses  against  which 
they  clamored  would  be  thoroughly  reformed 
should  they  come  into  power.  They  took  it  for 
granted  that  a  change  would  be  equivalent  to  a 
cure,  and  that  the  people  would  follow  them  in 
thus  begging  the  very  question  on  which  some 
satisfactory  assurance  was  reasonably  required. 
They  seemed  totally  unconscious  of  the  fact  that 
human  nature  is  essentially  the  same  in  all  parties, 
and  that  a  mere  change  of  men  without  any  change 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  \  5 

of  system  would  be  fruitless.  They  laid  down  no 
programme  looking  to  the  reform  of  the  civil  serv- 
ice. They  did  not  condemn  it,  and  their  sole 
panacea  for  the  startling  frauds  and  defalcations  of 
Van  Buren's  administration  was  the  imagined 
superior  virtue  and  patriotism  of  the  Whigs.  In  the 
light  of  this  fact  alone,  it  is  impossible  to  account 
for  the  perfectly  unbounded  and  irrepressible  en- 
thusiasm which  swept  over  the  land  during  the 
campaign,  and  so  signally  routed  the  forces  of 
Democracy.  Something  more  than  empty  prom- 
ises and  windy  declamation  was  necessary,  and  that 
something,  in  an  evil  hour,  was  supplied  by  the 
Democrats  themselves. 

General  Harrison  was  a  man  of  Revolutionary 
blood.  He  commanded  the  confidence  of  the 
chief  Fathers  of  the  Republic.  He  was  a  man  of 
undoubted  bravery,  and  had  made  a  most  honora- 
ble record,  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  civilian,  upon 
ample  trial  in  both  capacities.  He  was  unquestion- 
ably honest  and  patriotic,  and  the  fact  that  he  was 
a  poor  man,  and  a  plain  farmer  of  the  West,  could 
properly  form  no  objection  to  his  character  or  his 
fitness  for  the  Presidency.  But  the  Democratic 
orators  and  newspapers  assailed  him  as  an  "  imbe- 
cile." They  called  him  a  "  dotard  "  and  a  "granny." 
They  said  he  had  distinguished  himself  in  war 
by  running  from  the  enemy.  One  Democratic 
journalist  spoke  of  him,  contemptuously,  as  a  man 
who  should  be  content  with  a  log  cabin  and  a 


16  POLITICAL  K'-.COLI.KCTIONS. 

barrel  of  hard  cider,  without  aspiring  to  the  Presi- 
dency. The  efforts  to  belittle  his  merits  and 
defile  his  good  name  became  systematic,  and 
degenerated  into  the  most  unpardonable  per- 
sonal abuse  and  political  defamation.  This 
was  exactly  what  the  Whigs  needed  to  supplement 
their  lack  of  principles.  It  worked  like  a  charm. 
It  rallied  the  Whig  masses  like  a  grand  battle-cry. 
Mass-meetings  of  the  people,  such  as  had  never 
been  dreamed  of  before,  became  the  order  of  the 
day.  The  people  took  the  work  of  politics  into 
their  own  keeping,  and  the  leaders  became  fol- 
lowers. The  first  monster  meeting  I  attended  was 
held  on  the  Tippecanoe  battle-ground,  on  the  2Qth 
and  3Oth  of  May.  In  order  to  attend  it  I  rode  on 
horseback  through  the  mud  and  swamps  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles ;  but  I  considered  myself  amply 
compensated  for  the  journey  in  what  I  saw  and  en- 
joyed. The  gathering  was  simply  immense ;  and 
I  remember  that  James  Brooks,  since  conspicuous 
in  our  national  politics,  tried  to  address  the  multi- 
tude from  the  top  of  a  huge  log  cabin.  Large 
shipments  of  hard  cider  had  been  sent  up  the  Wa- 
bash  by  steamer,  and  it  was  liberally  dealt  out  to 
the  people  in  gourds,  as  more  appropriate  and  old- 
fashioned  than  glasses.  The  people  seemed  to  be 
supremely  happy,  and  their  faces  were  so  uniformly 
radiant  with  smiles  that  a  man  who  was  detected 
with  a  serious  countenance  was  at  once  suspected 
as  an  unrepentant  "  Loco-foco."  But  by  far 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  \  7 

the  largest  meeting  of  the  campaign  was  that 
held  at  Dayton,  on  the  I2th  day  of  September, 
where  General  Harrison  spoke  at  length.  He  was 
the  first  "  great  man"  I  had  seen,  and  I  succeeded  in 
getting  quite  near  him;  and,  while  gazing  into  his 
face  with  an  awe  which  I  have  never  since  felt  for 
any  mortal,  I  was  suddenly  recalled  from  my  rapt 
condition  by  the  exit  of  my  pocket-book.  The 
number  in  attendance  at  this  meeting  was  esti- 
mated at  two  hundred  thousand,  and  I  think  it 
could  not  have  been  far  out  of  the  way.  I  am  sure 
I  have  never  seen  it  equaled,  although  I  have  wit- 
nessed many  great  meetings  within  the  past  forty 
years.  The  marked  peculiarity  of  all  the  gather- 
ings of  this  campaign  was  a  certain  grotesque 
pomp  and  extravagance  of  representation  suggest- 
ive of  a  grand  carnival.  The  banners,  devices  and 
pictures  were  innumerable,  while  huge  wagons 
were  mounted  with  log  cabins,  cider  barrels,  canoes, 
miniature  ships,  and  raccoons. 

But  the  most  distinguishing  feature  of  the  cam- 
paign was  its  music.  The  spirit  of  song  was 
everywhere,  and  made  the  whole  land  vocal.  The 
campaign  was  set  to  music,  and  the  song  seriously 
threatened  to  drown  the  stump  speech.  Whig- 
gery  was  translated  into  a  tune,  and  poured  itself 
forth  in  doggerel  rhymes  which  seemed  to  be  born 
of  the  hour,  and  exactly  suited  to  the  crisis.  I 
give  a  few  specimens,  partly  from  memory,  and 
2 


1 8  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

partly  from  "  The  Harrison  and   Log  Cabin  Song 
Book  "  of  1840,  a  copy  of  which  is  before  me : 

What  has  caused  the  gi; . \\  c  •imnotion,  motion,  motion, 

Our  country  through? 
It  is  the  hall  a-rolling  on,  on, 

For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too — Tippecanoc  and  Tyler  too; 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van,  Van,  Van ; 

Van  is  a  used  up  man ; 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van. 

Like  the  rushing  of  mighty  waters,  waters,  waters, 

On  it  will  go, 
i  And  in  its  course  will  clear  the  way 

For  Tippecanoe  an«t  Tyler  too— Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too ; 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van,  Van,  Van  ; 

Van  is  a  used  up  man  ; 
And  with  them  we'll  beat  little  Van. 

The  famous  "  ball"  alluded  to  in  this  song  origi- 
nated with  the  Whigs  of  Allegheny  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  was  sent  by  them  to  a  Mass  Conven- 
tion held  at  Baltimore.  It  was  ten  or  twelve  feet 
in  diameter,  and  upon  the  ends  of  it,  on  blue 
ground,  were  stars  corresponding  in  number  with 
the  States  of  the  Union.  On  its  wide  spaces  of  red 
and  white  stripes  various  inscriptions  were  made, 
including  the  following,  which  belongs  to  the 
poetry  and  music  of  the  campaign: 

With  heart  and  soul 
This  ball  we  roll ; 
May  times  improve 
As  on  we  move. 

This  Democratic  ball 
Set  rolling  first  by  Bcnton, 


THE  HARRISON   CAMPAIGN.  19 

Is  on  another  track 

From  that  it  first  was  sent  on. 

Farewell,  dear  Van, 
You're  not  our  man ; 
To  guide  the  ship, 
We'll  try  old  Tip. 

The  following,  sung  to  the  tune  of  "Old  Rosin 
the  Bow,"  was  quite  as  popular  : 

Come  ye  who,  whatever  betide  her, 

To  Freedom  have  sworn  to  be  true, 
Prime  up  with  a  cup  of  hard  cider, 

And  drink  to  old  Tippecanoe. 

On  top  I've  a  cask  of  as  good,  sir, 

As  man  from  the  tap  ever  drew ; 
No  poison  to  cut  up  your  blood,  sir, 

But  liquor  as  pure  as  the  dew. 

Parched  corn  men  can't  stand  it  much  longer, 

Enough  is  as  much  as  we'll  bear; 
With  Tip  at  our  head,  in  October, 

We'll  tumble  Van  out  of  the  chair. 

Then  ho !  for  March  fourth,  forty-one,  boys, 
We'll  shout  till  the  heavens'  arched  blue 

Shall  echo  hard  cider  and  fun,  boys, 
Drink,  drink  to  old  Tippecanoe. 

The  following  kindred  verses  will  be  familiar  to 
everybody  who  remembers  the  year  1840: 

Ye  jolly  young  lads  of  Ohio, 

And  all  ye  sick  Vanocrats,  too,    • 
Come  out  from  among  the  foul  party, 

And  vote  for  old  Tippecanoe. 

Good  men  from  the  Van  jacks  are  flying, 
Which  makes  them  look  kinder  askew, 


20  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

hey  see  they  arc  joining  the  standard 
With  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe. 

They  say  that  he  lived  in  a  cabin. 

And  lived  on  old  cider,  too; 
Well,  what  if  he  did  ?     I'm  certain 

He's  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe. 

I  give  the  following  verses  of  one  of  the  best, 
which  used  to  be  sung  with  tremendous  effect : 

The  times  are  bad,  and  want  curing; 
They  are  getting  past  all  enduring; 
Let  as  turn  out  Martin  Van  Burcn, 

And  put  in  old  Tippecanoe. 

The  best  thing  we  can  do, 

Is  to  put  in  old  Tippecanoe. 

It's  a  business  we  all  can  take  part  in, 
So  let  us  give  notice  to  Martin 
That  he  must  get  ready  for  sartin', 

For  we'll  put  in  old  Tippecanoe. 

The  best  thing  we  can  do 

Is  to  put  in  old  Tippecanoe. 

We've  had  of  their  humbugs  a  plenty; 
For  now  all  our  pockets  are  empty ; 
We've  a  dollar  now  where  we  had  twenty, 

So  we'll  put  in  old  Tippecanoe. 

The  best  thing  we  can  do, 

Is  to  put  in  old  Tippecanoe. 

The   following  verses   are    perfectly    character- 
istic: 

See  the  fanner  to  his  meal 

Joyfully  repair; 
Crackers,  cheese  and  cider,  too, 

A  hard  but  homely  fare. 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  2I 

Martin  to  his  breakfast  comes 

At  the  hour  of  noon  ; 
Sipping  from  a  china  cup, 

With  a  golden  spoon. 

Martin's  steeds  impatient  wait 

At  the  palace  door; 
Outriders  behind  the  coach 

And  lackeys  on  before. 

After  the  State  election  in  Maine,  a  new  sonsr 

o 

appeared,  which  at  once  became   a  favorite,  and 
from  which  I  quote  the  following : 

And  have  you  heard  the  news  from  Maine, 

And  what  old  Maine  can  do? 
She  went  hell-bent  for  Governor  Kent, 

And  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 

And  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too. 

Such  was  this  most  remarkable  Whig  campaign, 
ivith  its  monster  meetings  and  music,  its  infinite 
drolleries,  its  rollicking  fun,  and  its  strong  flavor 
of  political  lunacy.  As  to  the  canvass  of  the  Dem- 
ocrats, the  story  is  soon  told.  In  all  points  it  was 
the  reverse  of  a  success.  The  attempt  to  manufact- 
ure enthusiasm  failed  signally.  They  had  neither 
fun  nor  music  in  their  service,  and  the  attempt  to 
secure  them  would  have  been  completely  over- 
whelmed by  the  flood  on  the  other  side.  It  was  a 
melancholy  struggle,  and  constantly  made  more 
so  by  the  provoking  enthusiasm  and  unbounded 
good  humor  of  the  Whigs.  It  ended  as  a  cam- 
paign of  despair,  while  its  humiliating  catastrophe 
must  have  awakened  inexpressible  disappointment 


22  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  disgust  both  among  the  leaders  and  masses  of 
the  party. 

This  picture  of  party  politics,  forty-three  years 
ago,  is  not  very  flattering  to  our  American  pride, 
but  it  simply  shows  the  working  of  Democratic 
institutions  in  dealing  with  the  "  raw  material"  of 
society  and  life  at  that  time.  The  movement  of 
1840  was  necessarily  transient  and  provisional, 
while  underneath  its  clatter  and  nonsense  was  a 
real  issue.  It  was  unrecognized  by  both  parties, 
but  it  made  its  advent,  and  the  men  who  pointed 
its  way  quietly  served  notice  upon  the  country  of 
their  ulterior  purposes. 

As  long  ago  as  the  year  1817,  Charles  Osborn 
had  established  an  anti-slavery  newspaper  in  Ohio, 
entitled  "  The  Philanthropist,"  which  was  followed 
in  1821  by  the  publication  of  Benjamin  Lundy's 
"  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation."  In*  1 83 1  the 
uprising  of  slaves  in  Southampton  County,  Vir- 
ginia, under  the  lead  of  Nat.  Turner,  had  startled 
the  country  and  invited  attention  to  the  question  of 
slavery.  In  the  same  year  Garrison  had  estab- 
lished "The  Liberator,"  and  in  1835  was  mobbed  in 
Boston,  and  dragged  through  its  streets  with  a  rope 
about  his  neck.  In  1837  Lovejoy  had  been  mur- 
dered in  Alton,  Illinois,  and  his  assassins  compared 
by  the  Mayor  of  Boston  to  the  patriots  of  the  Revo- 
lution. In  1838  a  pro- slavery  mob  had  set  fire  to 
Pennsylvania  Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  and  defied  the 
city  authorities  in  this  service  of  slavery.  Presi- 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  23 

dent  Jackson  and  Amos  Kendall,  his  Postmaster 
General,  had  openly  set  the  Constitution  at  de- 
fiance by  justifying  the  rifling  of  the  mails  and  the 
suppression  of  the  circulation  of  anti-slavery  news- 
papers in  the  South.  The  "  gag  "  resolutions  had 
been  introduced  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
1836,  which  provoked  the  splendid  fight  of  Adams, 
Giddings  and  Slade  for  the  right  of  petition  and 
the  freedom  of  speech.  Dr.  Channing  had  pub- 
lished his  prophetic  letter  to  Henry  Clay,  on  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  in  1837,  and  awakened  a  pro- 
found interest  in  the  slavery  question  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  We  had  been  disgraced  by 
two  Florida  wars,  caused  by  the  unconstitutional 
espousal  of  slavery  by  the  General  Government. 
President  Van  Buren  had  dishonored  his  adminis- 
tration and  defied  the  moral  sense  of  the  civilized 
world  by  his  efforts  to  prostitute  our  foreign  policy 
to  the  service  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade.  In 
February,  1839,  Henry  Clay  had  made  his  famous 
speech  on  "Abolitionism,"  and  thus  recognized  the 
bearing  of  the  slavery  question  upon  the  presiden- 
tial election  of  the  following  year.  The  Abolition- 
ists had  laid  siege  to  the  conscience  and  humanity 
of  the  people,  and  their  moral  appeals  were  to  be  a 
well-spring  of  life  to  the  nation  in  its  final  struggle 
for  self-preservation  ;  but  as  yet  they  had  agreed 
upon  no  organized  plan  of  action  against  the  ag- 
gressions of  an  institution  which  threatened  the 
overthrow  of  the  Union  and  the  end  of  Republican 


POLITIC  A  I.  RECOLLECTS 


government.  Hut  now  they  were  divided  into  two 
camps,  the  larger  of  which  favored  political  action, 
organized  as  a  party,  and  nominated,  as  its  candi- 
date for  President,  James  G.  Birney,  who  received 
nearly  seven  thousand  votes. 

This  was  a  small  beginning,  but  it  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end.  That  slavery  was  to  be  put  down 
without  political  action  in  a  government  carried 
on  by  the  ballot  was  never  a  tenable  proposition, 
anil  the  inevitable  work  was  at  last  inaugurated. 
It  was  done  opportunely.  Harrison  and  Van  Buren 
were  alike  objectionable  to  anti-slavery  men  who 
understood  their  record.  To  choose  between  them 
was  to  betray  the  cause.  Van  Buren  had  attempt- 
ed to  shelter  the  slave  trade  dnder  the  national 
flag.  He  had  allied  himself  to  the  enemies  of  the 
right  of  petition  and  the  freedom  of  debate,  as  the 
means  of  conciliating  the  South.  He  had  taken 
sides  with  Jackson  in  his  lawless  interference 
with  the  mails  at  the  bidding  of  slave-holders.  In 
a  word,  he  had  fairly  earned  the  description  of  "  a 
Northern  man  with  Southern  principles."  General 
Harrison,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  pro-slavery  Vir- 
ginian. While  Governor  of  Indiana  Territory  he 
had  repeatedly  sought  the  introduction  of  slavery 
into  that  region  through  the  suspension  of  the  or- 
dinance of  1787,  which  had  forever  dedicated  it  to 
freedom.  He  had  taken  sides  with  the  South  in 
1820  on  the  Missouri  question.  He  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  struggle  of  Adams  and  his  asso- 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  2$ 

elates,  against  the  gag  and  in  favor  of  the  right  of 
petition,  and  regarded  the  discussion  of  the  slavery 
question  as  unconstitutional.  The  first  draft  of 
his  inaugural  was  so  wantonly  offensive  to  the  anti 
slavery  Whigs  who  had  aided  in  his  election,  that 
even  Mr.  Clay  condemned  it,  and  prevailed  on  the 
General  to  modify  it.  He  had  declared  that  "  the 
schemes  of  the  Abolitionists  were  fraught  with  hor- 
rors, upon  which  an  incarnate  devil  only  could 
look  with  approbation."  With  such  candidates  the 
hour  had  fairly  struck  for  anti-slavery  men,  who  be- 
lieved in  the  use  of  the  ballot,  to  launch  the  grand 
movement  which  was  finally  to  triumph  over  all 
opposition ;  while  to  oppose  this  movement,  how- 
ever honestly,  was  to  encourage  men  to  choose 
between  parties  equally  untrustworthy,  and  by  thus 
prolonging  their  rule  to  defeat  all  practical  anti- 
slavery  woi*k.  It  was  the  singular  mistake  of  the 
non-voting  Abolitionists  at  this  time,  that,  while 
they  looked  forward  to  political  action  as  the  ulti- 
mate result  of  their  moral  agitation,  they  vehement- 
ly opposed  the  formation  of  an  anti-slavery  political 
party,  and  either  withheld  their  votes  or  divided 
them  between  these  pro-slavery  chieftains,  though 
giving  by  far  the  larger  proportion  to  the  Whig 
candidate. 

From  this  time  forward  anti-slavery  progress  was 
more  marked.  The  struggle  over  the  right  of 
petition  in  Congress  continued,  and  was  character- 
ized by  a  constantly  increasing  measure  of  fierce- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  South.  This  is  vividly 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

depicted  in  a  passage  from  the  diary  of  Mr.  Adams, 
in  March,  1841,  in  which  he  declares  tint  "  The 
world,  the  flesh,  aiul  all  the  devils  in  hell  are  ar- 
rayed against  any  man  who  now,  in  this  North 
American  Union,  shall  dare  to  join  the  standard  of 
Almighty  God  to  put  down  the  African  slave  trade; 
and  what  can  I,  upon  the  verge  of  my  seventy- 
fourth  birthday,  with  a  shaking  hand,  a  darkening 
eye,  a  drowsy  brain,  and  with  all  my  faculties  drop- 
ping from  me  one  by  one  as  the  teeth  are  dropping 
from  my  head,  what  can  I  do  for  the  cause  of  God 
and  man,  for  the  progress  of  human  emancipation, 
for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave-trade  ? 
Yet  my  conscience  presses  me  on ;  let  me  but  die 
upon  the  breach." 

The  celebrated  trial  of  Mr.  Adams  the  following 
year,  for  presenting  a  petition  from  the  citizens  of 
Haverhill,  requesting  Congress  to  take  steps  toward 
a  peaceable  dissolution  of  the  Union,  was  a  great 
national  event,  and  his  triumph  gave  a  new  impulse 
to  the  cause  of  freedom.  The  censure  of  Mr.  Gid- 
dings  which  followed,  for  offering  resolutions  in 
the  House  embodying  the  simplest  truisms  respect- 
ing the  relations  of  the  General  Government  to 
slavery,  and  the  elaborate  State  paper  of  Mr. 
Webster,  which  provoked  these  resolutions,  in 
which  he  attempted  to  commit  the  Government  to 
the  protection  of  slavery  on  the  high  seas,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  theories  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  still 
further  kept  alive  the  anti-slavery  agitation,  and 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  2/ 

awakened  the  interest  of  Northern  men.  A  kindred 
aid,  unwittingly  rendered  the  anti-slavery  cause, 
was  the  infamous  diplomacy  of  General  Cass,  our 
Ambassador  to  France  in  1842,  in  connection  with 
the  Quintuple  Treaty  for  the  suppression  of  the 
African  slave  trade.  His  monstrous  effort  to  shield 
that  trade  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was 
characterized  by  Mr.  Adams  as  "  a  compound  of 
Yankee  cunning,  of  Italian  perfidy,  and  of  French 
legerete,  cemented  by  shameless  profligacy  un- 
paralleled in  American  diplomacy."  In  October, 
1842,  Henry  Clay  himself  became  an  anti-slavery 
agitator  through  his  famous  "  Mendenhall  Speech," 
at  Richmond,  Indiana.  In  response  to  a  petition 
asking  him  to  emancipate  his  slaves,  he  told  the 
people  "  that  whatever  the  law  secures  as  property 
is  property,"  and  described  his  slaves  as  "being  well 
fed  and  clad,"  and  as  looking  "  sleek  and  hearty." 
"  Go  home,  Mr.  Mendenhall,"  said  he,  "  and  mind 
your  own  business,  and  leave  other  people  to  take 
care  of  theirs."  Mr.  Mendenhall  was  an  anti-slav- 
ery Quaker;  but  Mr.  Clay,  while  rebuking  him 
severely,  took  pains  to  compliment  the  society  it- 
self on  its  practically  pro-slavery  attitude,  and  thus 
stung  into  redoubled  earnestness  and  zeal  the  men 
who  had  recently  been  driven  out  of  it  on  account 
of  their  "  abolitionism."  On  the  day  following  this 
speech,  which  was  the  Sabbath,  he  was  escorted  to 
the  yearly  meeting  by  Elijah  Coffin,  its  clerk,  seated 
in  a  very  conspicuous  place,  honored  by  every 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


mark  of  the  most  obsequious  deference,  and  thus 
made  the  instrument  of  widening  the  breach  al- 
ready formed  in  the  society,  while  feeding  the  anti- 
slavery  fires  which  he  was  so  anxious  to  assuage. 

The  work  of  agitation  was  still  further  kept  alive 
by  conflicts  between  the  Northern  and  Southern 
States  respecting  the  reclamation  of  fugitives  from 
crime.  Virginia  had  demanded  of  New  York  the 
surrender  of  three  colored  sailors  who  were 
charged  with  having  aided  a  slave  to  escape. 
Governor  Seward  refused  to  deliver  them  up,  for 
the  reason  that  the  Constitutional  provision  on  the 
subject  must  be  so  understood  as  that  the  States 
would  only  be  required  to  surrender  fugitives 
accused  of  an  offense  considered  a  crime  in  the 
State  called  upon  to  make  the  surrender  as  well 
as  in  the  State  asking  for  it.  Similar  controversies 
occurred  between  other  States,  in  all  of  which  the 
South  failed  in  her  purpose.  The  anti  -slavery  spirit 
found  further  expression  in  1843  'n  Massachusetts, 
whose  Legislature  resolved  to  move,  through  the 
Representatives  of  the  State  in  Congress,  an 
Amendment  to  the  Constitution,  basing  representa- 
tion on  the  free  population  only  of  the  States; 
which  proposition  gave  rise  to  a  most  memorable 
debate  in  the  national  House  of  Representatives. 
It  was  in  August  of  the  same  year  that  the  voting 
Abolitionists  held  a  National  Convention  in  Buffalo, 
in  which  all  the  free  States,  except  New  Hamp- 
shire, were  represented;  while  in  the  following 


THE  HARRISON  CAMPAIGN.  29. 

year  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  rent  in 
twain  by  the  same  unmanageable  question,  which 
had  previously  divided  other  ecclesiastical  com- 
munions. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  question  of  Texan  annex- 
ation had  been  steadily  advancing  to  the  political 
front,  and  stirring  the  blood  of  the  people  both 
North  and  South.  This  "  robbery  of  a  realm,"  as 
Dr.  Channing  had  styled  it,  was  the  unalterable 
purpose  and  unquenchable  desire  of  the  slave- 
holding  interest,  and  its  accomplishment  was  to  be 
secured  by  openly  espousing  the  principle  that  the 
end  justifies  the  means,  and  setting  all  conse- 
quences at  defiance.  This  is  exactly  what  the 
Government  did.  The  diplomacy  through  which 
the  plot  was  prosecuted  was  marked  by  a  cun- 
ning, audacity,  and  perfidy,  which,  in  these  particu- 
lars, leave  the  administration  of  John  Tyler  unri- 
valled in  its  ugly  pre-eminence,  and  form  one  of 
the  blackest  pages  in  the  history  of  the  Republic. 
The  momentous  question  was  now  upon  us ;  and 
on  the  dawning  of  the  year  1844,  all  parties  saw 
that  it  was  destined  to  be  the  overshadowing  issue 
in  the  ensuing  presidential  campaign. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844 — ANNEXATION  AND  SLAVERY. 

The  nomination  of  CUy — Hi*  position  on  the  slavery  question 
and  annexation — Van  Buren's  letter  to  Hammer,  and  its  effect 
upon  the  South — His  repudiation,  and  the  nomination  of 
Polk — The  surprise  of  the  country — Unbounded  confidence 
of  the  WhigN — The  course  of  the  New  York  Democrats — 
The  "Kane  Letter" — Trouble  among  the  Whigs  on  the 
annexation  question — Fierceness  of  the  contest,  and  singular 
ability  of  the  leaders — The  effect  of  Clay's  defeat  upon  the 
NVhigs — Causes  of  the  defeat — The  Abolitionists,  and  the 
abuse  heaped  upon  them — Cassius  M.  Clay — Mr.  Hoar's 
>n  to  South  Carolina — Election  of  John  P.  Hale — An- 
nexation and  war  with  Mexico— Folk's  message,  and  the 
Wilmot  proviso — The  Oregon  question,  and  Alex.  H.  Ste- 
phens. 

THE  times  were  serious.  The  fun  and  frolic  of 
1840  had  borne  no  fruit,  and  that  part  of  our  his- 
tory could  not  be  repeated.  The  campaign  of 
1 844  promised  to  be  a  struggle  for  principle;  and 
among  the  Whigs  all  eyes  were  turned  fora  stand- 
ard bearer  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  been  so  shabbily 
treated  four  years  before.  He  was  unanimously 
nominated  on  the  first  of  May,  with  Theodore 
Frelinghuysen  as  the  candidate  for  Vice  President. 
The  party  issues  were  not  very  sharply  defined, 
but  this  was  scarcely  necessary  with  a  candidate 
(30) 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  3  I 

who  was  proverbially   regarded  as  himself  "  the 
embodiment  of  Whig  principles."     On  the  subject 
of  annexation,  he  clearly  defined  his  position  in 
his  letter  of  the    I7th  of  April  to  the  "  National 
Intelligencer."     He  declared  that  annexation  and 
war  with  Mexico  were  identical,  and  placed  him- 
self squarely  against  it,  except   upon    conditions 
specified,  which  would  make  the  project  of  imme- 
diate annexation  impossible.     On  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, he  had  not  yet  seriously  offended  the  anti- 
slavery  element  in  his  own  party,  and  was  even 
trusted  by  some   of  the  voting  anti-slavery  men. 
In  a  speech  at  Raleigh,  in  April  of  this  year,  he 
declared  it  to  be  "  the  duty  of  each  State  to  sustain 
its  own  domestic  institutions."     He  had  publicly 
said  that  the  General  Government  had  nothing  to 
do  with  slavery,  save  in  the  matters  of  taxation, 
representation,  and  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves. 
He  had  condemned  the  censure  of  Mr.-  Giddings 
in  1842  as  an  outrage,  and  indorsed  the  principles 
laid  down  in  his  tract,  signed  "  Pacificus,"  on  the 
relations  of  the  Federal   Government  to  slavery, 
and  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  people  of  the  free 
States.     In  his  earlier  years,  he  had  been  an  out- 
spoken emancipationist,  and  had  always  frankly 
expressed  his  opinion  that  slavery  was  a  great  evil. 
These  considerations,  and  especially  his  unequivo- 
cal utterances  against  the  annexation  scheme,  were 
regarded   as   hopeful   auguries    of    a  thoroughly 
united  party,  and  its  triumph  at  the  polls;  while 


32  POLITICAL  Kl  <  \*I.l  ECTIONS. 

Mr.  Webster,  always  on  the  presidential  anxious- 
seat,  and  carefully  watching  the  signs  of  the  polit- 
ical zodiac,  now  cordially  lent  his  efforts  to  the 
Whig  cause. 

With  the  Democracy,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  still  a 
general  favorite.  His  friends  felt  that  the  wrong 
done  him  in  1840  should  now  be  righted,  and  a 
large  majority  of  his  party  undoubtedly  favored 
his  renomination.  But  his  famous  letter  to  Mr. 
Hammet,  of  Mississippi,  dated  March  27th,  on  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  placed  a  lion  in  his  path.  In 
this  lengthy  and  elaborate  document  he  committed 
himself  against  the  project  of  immediate  annexa- 
tion, and  the  effect  was  at  once  seen  in  the  decid- 
edly unfriendly  tone  of  Democratic  opinion  in  the 
South.  He  had  been  faithful  to  the  Slave  oligar- 
chy in  many  things,  but  his  failure  in  one  was 
counted  a  breach  of  the  whole  law.  By  many  acts 
of  patient  and  dutiful  service  he  had  earned  the 
gratitude  of  his  Southern  task- masters;  but  now, 
when  driven  to  the  wall,  he  mustered  the  courage 
to  say,  "  Thus  far,  no  farther"  ;  and  for  this  there 
was  no  forgiveness.  General  Jackson  came  to  his 
rescue,  but  it  was  in  vain.  The  Southern  heart 
was  set  upon  immediate  annexation  as  the  golden 
opportunity  for  rebuilding  the  endangered  edifice 
of  slavery,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren's  talk  about  national 
obligations  and  the  danger  of  a  foreign  war  was 
treated  as  the  idle  wind.  The  Southern  Democrats 
were  bent  upon  his  overthrow,  and  they  went 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  33 

about  it  in  the  Baltimore  Convention  of  the  2/th  of 
May  as  if  perfectly  conscious  of  their  power  over 
the  Northern  wing  of  the  party.  They  moved  and 
carried  the  "  two-thirds  rule,"  which  had  been  acted 
on  in  the  National  Convention  of  1832.  and  after- 
ward in  that  of  1835,  although  this  could  not  have 
been  done  without  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the 
convention,  which  was  itself  strongly  for  Van 
Buren.  The  rule  was  adopted  by  a  considerable 
majority,  the  South  being  nearly  unanimous  in  its 
favor,  while  the  North  largely  "  supplied  the  men 
who  handed  Van  Buren  over  to  his  enemies  with  a 
kiss."  Even  General  Cass,  the  most  gifted  and 
accomplished  dough-face  in  the  Northern  States, 
failed  to  receive  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
Convention  on  any  ballot,  and  James  K.  Polk  was 
finally  nominated  as  the  champion  of  immediate 
annexation,  with  George  M.  Dallas  as  the  candi- 
date for  Vice  President. 

The  nomination  was  a  perfect  surprise  to  the 
country,  because  Mr.  Polk  was  wholly  unknown 
to  the  people  as  a  statesman.  Like  Governor 
Hayes,  when  nominated  in  1876,  he  belonged  to 
the  "  illustrious  obscure."  The  astonished  native 
who,  on  hearing  the  news,  suddenly  inquired  of  a 
bystander,  "  Who  the  devil  is  Polk  ? "  simply  echoed 
the  common  feeling,  while  his  question  provoked  the 
general  laughter  of  the  Whigs.  For  a  time  the 
nomination  was  somewhat  disappointing  to  the 
Democrats  themselves;  but  they  soon  rallied,  and 
3 


34  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

finally  went  into  the  canvass  very  earnestly,  and 
with  a  united  front.  The  Whigs  began  th  cam- 
paign in  high  hopes,  and  in  fact  with  unbounded 
confidence  in  their  success.  Their  great  captain 
was  in  command,  and  they  took  comfort  in  his 
favorite  utterance  that  "truth  is  omnipotent,  and 
public  justice  certain."  To  pit  against  him  such 
a  pigmy  as  Polk  seemed  to  them  a  miserable 
burlesque,  and  they  counted  their  triumph  as 
already  perfectly  assured.  They  claimed  the  ad- 
vantage on  the  question  of  annexation,  and  still 
more  as  to  the  tariff,  since  the  act  of  1842  was 
popular,  and  Polk  was  known  to  be  a  free-trader  of 
the  Calhoun  school.  As  the  canvass  proceeded, 
however,  it  became  evident  that  the  fight  was  to 
be  fierce  and  bitter  to  the  last  degree,  and  that  the 
issue,  after  all,  was  not  so  certain.  Mr.  Polk, 
notwithstanding  his  obscurity,  was  able  to  rouse 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  party,  North  and  South,  to  a 
very  remarkable  degree.  The  annexation  pill  was 
swallowed  by  many  Democrats  whose  support  of 
him  had  been  deemed  morally  impossible.  In  New 
York,  where  the  opposition  was  strongest,  leading 
Democrats,  with  William  Cullen  Bryant  at  their 
head,  denounced  the  annexation  scheme  and  repu- 
diated the  paragraph  of  the  National  platform 
which  favored  it,  and  yet  voted  for  Polk,  who  owed 
his  nomination  solely  to  the  fact  that  he  had  com- 
mitted himself  to  the  policy  of  immediate  and  un- 
conditional annexation,  thus  anticipating  the  sickly 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  35 

political  morality  of  1852,  when  so  many  men  of  re- 
pute tried  in  vain  to  save  both  their  consciences  and 
their  party  orthodoxy  by  "  spitting  upon  the  plat- 
form and  swallowing  the  candidate  who  stood  upon 
it."  History  will  have  to  record  that  the  action  of 
these  New  York  Democrats  saved  the  ticket  in  that 
State,  and  justly  attaches  to  them  the  responsibility 
for  the  very  evils  to  the  country  against  which  they 
so  eloquently  warned  their  brethren.  The  power  of 
the  spoils  came  in  as  a  tremendous  make-weight, 
while  the  party  lash  was  vigorously  flourished,  and 
the  "  independent  voter"  was  as  hateful  to  the  party 
managers  on  both  sides  as  we  find  him  to-day.  Those 
who  refused  to  wear  the  party  collar  were  branded 
by  the  "  organs  "  as  a  "  pestiferous  and  demoraliz- 
ing brood,"  who  deserved  "  extermination."  Dis- 
cipline was  rigorously  enforced,  and  made  to  take 
the  place  of  argument.  As  regards  the  tariff  ques- 
tion, Mr.  Folk's  letter  to  Judge  Kane,  of  Philadel- 
phia, of  the  ipth  of  June,  enabled  his  friends  com- 
pletely to  turn  the  tables  on  the  Whigs  of  Penn- 
sylvania, where  "  Polk,  Dallas,  and  the  tariff  of 
1842,"  was  blazoned  on  the  Democratic  banners,  and 
thousands  of  Democrats  were  actually  made  to  be- 
lieve that  Polk  was  even  a  better  tariff  man  than 
Clay.  This  letter,  committing  its  free-trade  author 
to  the  principle  of  a  revenue  tariff,  with  "  reasona- 
ble incidental  protection,  to  our  home  industries," 
was  translated  into  German  and  printed  in  all  the 
party  papers ;  and  as  a  triumphant  effort  to  make 


36  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  people  believe  a  lie,  and  a  masterpiece  of  polit- 
ical duplicity  employed  by  a  great  party  as  a 
means  of  success,  it  had  no  precedent  in  American 
politics.  In  later  times,  however,  it  has  been  com- 
pletely eclipsed  by  the  scheme  of  "tissue  ballots," 
and  other  wholesale  methods  of  balking  the  popular 
will  in  the  South,  by  the  successful  effort  to  cheat 
the  nation  out  of  the  right  to  choose  its  Chief 
Magistrate  in  1876,  and  by  the  startling  bribery  of 
a  great  commonwealth  four  years  later,  now  un- 
blushingly  confessed  by  the  party  leaders  who 
accomplished  it. 

In  the  meantime  the  spirit  of  discontent  began 
to  manifest  itself  among  the  Whigs  of  the  South 
respecting  Mr.  Clay's  attitude  on  the  question  of 
annexation,  and  in  a  moment  of  weakness  he 
wrote  his  unfortunate  "  Alabama  letter,"  of  the 
27th  of  July.  In  that  letter  he  said :  "  I  do  not 
think  that  the  subject  of  slavery  ought  to  affect 
the  question  one  way  or  the  other.  Whether 
Texas  be  independent  or  incorporated  into  the 
United  States,  I  do  not  believe  it  will  prolong  or 
shorten  the  duration  of  that  institution."  He  also 
declared  that  he  would  be  "  glad  to  see  it,  without 
dishonor,  without  war,  with  the  common  consent 
of  the  Union,  and  upon  just  and  fair  terms."  These 
words  were  perfectly  chilling  to  his  anti-slavery 
supporters,  who  were  utterly  opposed  to  annexa- 
tion on  any  terms,  because  the  power  of  slavery 
would  thus  inevitably  be  extended  and  strength- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  37 

ened  in  the  United  States.  The  letter  was  an  ir- 
reparable mistake.  It  was  a  fresh  example  of  his 
besetting  tendency  to  mediate  between  opposing 
policies,  and  undoubtedly  drove  from  his  support 
many  who  would  otherwise  have  followed  the 
Whig  banner  to  the  end. 

But  the  Whigs  kept  up  the  fight.  The  issues 
were  joined,  and  it  was  too  late  to  change  front. 
The  real  question  in  dispute  was  that  of  annexa- 
tion, and  the  election  of  Polk  was  certain  to  secure 
it,  and  to  involve  the  nation  in  war.  Clay  was  un- 
questionably right  in  saying  that  annexation  and 
war  were  indentical ;  and,  although  on  the  slavery 
question  he  might  be  feared  as  a  compromiser, 
there  was  no  reason  to  doubt  that,  if  elected,  he 
would  vigorously  resist  the  annexation  scheme, 
except  upon  conditions  already  stated,  which  could 
not  fail  to  defeat  it  as  a  present  measure  and  avoid 
the  calamities  of  war.  I  was  inexpressibly  disap- 
pointed and  grieved  by  his  letter ;  but  I  agreed 
with  Cassius  M.  Clay,  that  opposition  to  annex- 
ation except  "  with  the  common  consent  of  the 
Union"  was  practically  absolute  opposition,  and  I 
therefore  kept  up  the  fight  in  which  I  had  enlisted 
in  the  beginning  and  made  my  first  venture  as  a 
stump  speaker.  I  cared  little  about  the  old  party 
issues.  I  had  outgrown  the  teaching  of  the  Whigs 
on  the  subject  of  protection,  and  especially  their 
pet  dogma  of  "  the  higher  the  duty  the  lower 
the  price  of  the  protected  article."  As  to  a  na- 


38  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

tional  bank,  I  followed  Webster,  who  had  pro- 
nounced it  "  an  obsolete  idea  ";  and  I  totally  repu- 
diated the  land  policy  of  the  Whigs,  having  at  th.it 
early  day  espoused  the  principle  that  the  public 
lands  should  cease  to  be  a  source  of  revenue,  and 
be  granted  in  small  homesteads  to  the  landless 
poor  for  actual  settlement  and  tillage.  But  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  though  it  had  escaped  my  at- 
tention in  the  hurrah  of  1840.  I  was  thoroughly 
aroused.  This  came  of  my  Quaker  training,  the 
speeches  of  Adams  and  Giddings.  the  anti-slavery 
newspapers,  and  the  writings  of  Dr.  Channing,  all 
of  which  I  had  been  reading  with  profound  inter- 
est since  the  Harrison  Campaign.  Being  perfectly 
sure  that  annexation  would  lead  to  slavery-exten- 
sion and  war,  I  thought  it  my  clear  and  unhesitat- 
ing duty  to  resist  the  election  of  Polk  with  all  my 
might.  This  I  did  to  the  end,  and  in  doing  it  I 
employed  substantially  the  same  arguments  on 
which  I  justified  my  separation  from  the  Whigs 
four  years  later. 

The  contest  proceeded  with  its  variety  of  charges 
and  counter-charges,  and  was  prosecuted  on  both 
sides  with  extraordinary  vigor  and  zeal  in  every 
part  of  the  Union.  I  think  it  was  everywhere  and 
pre-eminently  a  struggle  between  the  men  of  brains 
on  either  side.  I  am  quite  sure  this  was  true  in 
my  own  State.  Indiana  was  remarkable  at  that 
time,  not  only  for  her  gifted  stump  orators,  but  for 
her  men  of  real  calibre  and  power  of  argument. 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  39 

On  the  side  of  the  Whigs  were  such  men  as  Oli- 
ver H.  Smith,  Joseph  G.  Marshall,  George  G. 
Dunn,  Joseph  L.  White,  Richard  W.  Thompson, 
Caleb  B  Smith,  George  H.  Proffit,  Henry  S.  Lane, 
Samuel  W.  Parker,  and  James  H.  Cravens.  The 
Democrats  could  boast  of  Tilghman  A.  Howard, 
James  Whitcomb,  Edward  A.  Hannegan,  William 
W.  Wick,  John  Law,  Joseph  A.  Wright,  Jesse  D. 
Bright,  John  W.  Davis,  Thomas  J.  Henly,  and 
John  L.  Robinson.  The  best  talking  talent  of  the 
nation  was  called  into  service,  including  such 
Democratic  giants  as  Thomas  H.  Benton,  William 
Allen,  Silas  Wright,  Robert  J.  Walker,  James 
Buchanan,  and  Daniel  S.  Dickenson ;  and  such 
Whigs  to  match  them  as  Daniel  Webster,  Rufus 
Choate,  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  Thomas  Corwin,  S. 
S.  Prentiss,  Thomas  Ewing,  and  W.  C.  Preston. 
The  fight  was  more  ably  if  not  more  hotly  con- 
tested than  any  preceding  national  struggle, 
raging  and  blazing  everywhere,  while  the  forces 
marshaled  against  each  other  were  more  evenly 
balanced  than  in  any  contest  since  the  year 
1800.  The  race  was  so  close  that  the  result 
hung  in  agonizing  doubt  and  suspense  up  to  the 
evening  following  the  election.  Party  feeling  rose 
to  a  frenzy,  and  the  consuming  desire  of  the  Whigs 
to  crown  their  great  Chief  with  the  laurels  of 
victory  was  only  equaled  by  that  of  the  Democrats 
for  the  triumph  of  the  unknown  Tennessean  whose 


40  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

nomination  had  provoked  the  aggravating  laughter 
of  the  enemy  in  the  beginning. 

It  is  not  possible  to  describe  the  effect  of  Mr. 
.  \s  defeat  upon  the  Whigs.  It  was  wholly 
unexpected,  and  Mr.  Clay  especially  remained 
sanguine  as  to  his  triumph  up  to  the  last  moment. 
When  the  result  became  known,  it  was  accepted 
by  his  friends  as  a  great  national  calamity  and 
humiliation.  It  shocked  and  paralyzed  them  like 
a  great  tragedy.  I  remember  very  vividly  one 
zealous  Whig,  afterward  a  prominent  Free  Soiler 
and  Republican  leader,  who  was  so  utterly  over- 
whelmed that  for  a  week  he  lost  the  power  of 
sleep,  and  gave  himself  up  to  political  sorrow  and 
despair.  Letters  of  the  most  heart-felt  condolence 
poured  in  upon  Mr.  Clay  from  all  quarters,  and 
the  Whigs  everywhere  seemed  to  feel  that  no 
statesman  of  real  eminence  could  ever  be  made 
President.  They  insisted  that  an  overwhelming 
preponderance  of  the  virtue,  intelligence  and  re- 
spectability of  the  country  had  supported  their 
candidate,  while  the  larger  element  of  ignorance 
and  "  unwashed  "  humanity,  including  our  foreign- 
born  population,  gave  the  victory  to  Mr.  Polk. 
Their  faith  in  republican  government  was  fearfully 
shaken,  while  the  causes  of  the  great  disaster  were 
of  course  sought  out,  and  made  the  text  of  hasty 
but  copious  moralizings.  One  of  these  causes 
was  the  Kane  letter,  which  undoubtedly  gave  Mr. 
Polk  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  Another  was  the 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  41 

4 

baneful  influence  of  "  nativism,"  which  had  just 
broken  out  in  the  great  cities,  and  been  made  the 
occasion  of  such  frightful  riot  and  bloodshed  in 
Philadelphia  as  to  alarm  our  foreign-born  citizens, 
and  throw  them  almost  unanimously  against  the 
Whigs.  The  Abolitionists  declared  that  Mr. 
Clay's  defeat  was  caused  by  his  trimming  on  the 
annexation  question,  which  drew  from  him  a 
sufficient  number  of  conscientious  anti-slavery  men 
to  have  turned  the  tide  in  his  favor.  The  famous 
Plaquemine  frauds 'in  Louisiana  unquestionably 
lost  that  State  to  Mr.  Clay.  This  infamous  con- 
spiracy to  strangle  the  voice  of  a  sovereign  State 
was  engineered  by  John  Slidell,  and  it  consisted 
of  the  shipment  from  New  Orleans  to  Plaquemine 
of  two  steamboats  loaded  with  roughs  and  villains, 
whose  illegal  votes  were  sufficient  to  turn  the 
State  over  to  the  Democrats. 

But  the  cause  of  Mr.  Clay's  defeat  which  was 
dwelt  upon  with  most  emphasis  and  feeling  was 
the  action  of  the  Liberty  party.  Birney,  its  candi- 
date for  President,  received  66,304  votes,  and  these, 
it  was  alleged,  came  chiefly  from  the  Whig  party. 
The  vote  of  these  men  in  New  York  and  Michigan 
was  greater  than  the  Democratic  majority,  so  that 
if  they  had  united  with  the  Whigs,  Clay  would 
have  been  elected  in  spite  of  all  other  opposition. 
Mr.  Polk's  plurality  over  Clay  in  New  York  was 
only  5,106,  while  Birney  received  in  that  State 
15,812;  and  Horace  Greeley  insisted  that  if  only 


POLITIC. I L  RECOLLECTIONS. 


one  third  of  this  vote  had  been  cast  for  Mr.  Clay, 
he  would  have  been  President.  The  feeling  of  the 
Whigs  against  these  anti-slavery  men  was  bitter 
and  damnatory  to  the  last  degree.  The  Plaque- 
mine  frauds,  the  Kane  letter,  and  everything  else, 
were  forgotten  in  the  general  and  abounding  wrath 
against  these  "  fanatics,"  who  were  denounced  as 
the  betrayers  of  their  country  and  of  the  cause 
which  a  very  great  and  critical  opportunity  had 
placed  it  in  their  power  to  save.  "The  Abolition- 
ists deserve  to  be  damned,  and  they  will  be,"  said 
a  zealous  Whig  to  an  anti-slavery  Quaker ;  and 
this  was  simply  the  expression  of  the  prevailing 
feeling  at  the  time,  at  least  in  the  West. 

But  this  treatment  of  the  Abolitionists  was  man- 
ifestly unjust.  Their  organization  four  years  be- 
fore was  neither  untimely  nor  unnecessary,  but  be- 
longed to  the  inevitable  logic  of  a  great  and  domi- 
nating idea.  A  party  was  absolutely  necessary 
which  should  make  this  idea  paramount,  and  utterly 
refuse  to  be  drawn  away  from  it  by  any  party  di- 
visions upon  subsidiary  questions.  It  should  be 
remembered,  too,  that  the  Liberty  party  was  made 
up  of  Democratic  as  well  as  Whig  deserters,  and 
that  if  it  had  disbanded,  or  had  not  been  formed, 
the  result  of  this  election  would  have  been  the 
same.  The  statement  of  Mr.  Greeley,  that  one 
third  of  Birney's  vote  in  New  York  would  have 
elected  Clay,  was  unwarranted,  unless  he  was  able 
to  show  what  would  have  been  the  action  of  the 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  43 

other  two  thirds.  In  justice  to  these  Abolitionists 
it  should  also  be  remembered  and  recorded,  to  say 
the  very  least,  that  Mr.  Clay  himself  divided  with 
them  the  responsibility  of  his  defeat  by  his  Ala- 
bama letter,  and  that  now,  in  the  clear  perspective 
of  history,  they  stand  vindicated  against  their 
Whig  assailants,  whose  fevered  brains  and  party 
intolerance  blinded  their  eyes  to  the  truth.  Doubt- 
less there  were  honest  differences  of  opinion  as 
to  the  best  method  of  serving  the  anti-slavery  cause 
in  this  exasperating  campaign,  and  these  differ- 
ences may  still  survive  as  an  inheritance ;  but  abo- 
litionism, as  a  working  force  in  our  politics,  had  to 
have  a  beginning,  and  no  man  who  cherishes  the 
memory  of  the  old  Free  Soil  party,  and  of  the 
larger  one  to  which  it  gave  birth,  will  withhold 
the  meed  of  his  praise  from  the  heroic  little  band 
of  sappers  and  miners  who  blazed  the  way  for  the 
armies  which  were  to  follow,  and  whose  voices, 
though  but  faintly  heard  in  the  whirlwind  of  1840, 
were  made  significantly  audible  in  1844.  Although 
they  were  everywhere  totally  misunderstood  and 
grossly  misrepresented,  they  clearly  comprehended 
their  work  and  courageously  entered  upon  its  per- 
formance. Their  political  creed  was  substantially 
identical  with  that  of  the  Free  Soilers  of  1848 
and  the  Republicans  of  1856  and  1860.  They 
were  anything  but  political  fanatics,  and  history 
will  record  that  their  sole  offense  was  the  espousal 
of  the  truth  in  advance  of  the  multitude,  which 
slowly  and  finally  followed  in  their  footsteps. 


44  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

But  the  war  against  slavery  was  not  at  all  inter- 
mitted by  the  victory  of  the  Democrats.  Events 
are  schoolmasters,  and  this  triumph  only  quickened 
their  march  toward  the  final  catastrophe.  Cassius 
M.  Clay,  who  had  espoused  the  Whig  cause  in  this 
canvass  with  great  vigor  and  zeal,  and  on  anti- 
slavery  grounds,  re-enlisted  in  the  battle  against 
slavery,  and  resolved  to  prosecute  it  by  new 
methods.  He  had  been  sorely  tried  by  Mr.  Clay's 
Alabama  letter  and  the  Whig  defeat,  but  he  was 
now  armed  with  fresh  courage,  and  resolved  to 
"  carry  the  war  into  Africa  "  by  the  establishment  of 
his  newspaper,  the  "  True  American,"  in  Lexington, 
in  his  own  State.  His  arraignment  of  slavery  was 
so  eloquent  and  masterly  that  a  large  meeting  of 
slave-holders  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  on 
him,  and  request  the  discontinuance  of  his  paper. 
His  reply  was  :  "  Go,  tell  your  secret  conclave  of 
cowardly  assassins  that  Cassius  M.  Clay  knows 
his  rights,  and  how  to  defend  them."  These  words 
thrilled  all  lovers  of  liberty,  and  sounded  to  them 
like  a  trumpet  call  to  battle.  Another  fruitful 
event  was  the  effort  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  fall  of 
this  year,  to  protect  her  colored  seamen  in  the 
ports  of  Charleston  and  New  Orleans,  where  they 
were  seized  on  merchant  ships  and  sold  into 
slavery,  under  local  police  regulations.  When  Mr. 
Hoar  visited  Charleston  as  the  accredited  agent  of 
his  State  for  the  purpose  of  taking  measures  to 
test  the  constitutionality  of  these  regulations,  the 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  45 

Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  by  a  vote  of  one 
hundred  and  nineteen  against  one,  passed  a  series 
of  outrageous  resolutions  culminating  in  a  request 
to  the  Governor  to  expel  him  from  the  State  as  a 
confessed  disturber  of  the  peace.  He  was  obliged 
summarily  to  depart,  as  the  only  means  of  escap- 
ing the  vengeance  of  the  mob.  This  open  and 
insolent  defiance  of  the  national  authority  could  not 
fail  to  strengthen  anti- slavery  opinion  in  the  North- 
ern States.  The  same  end  was  served  by  an  unex- 
pected movement  in  New  Hampshire.  This  State, 
like  Massachusetts  and  Vermont,  had  taken  ground 
against  annexation,  but  it  wheeled  into  line  after 
Polk  was  nominated.  John  P.  Hale,  however,  then 
a  Democratic  member  of  Congress  from  that  State, 
refused  to  follow  his  party,  and  for  this  reason,  after 
he  had  been  formally  declared  its  choice  for  re- 
election, he  was  thrown  overboard,  and  another 
candidate  nominated.  No  election,  however,  was 
effected,  and  his  seat  remained  vacant  during  the 
29th  Congress,  but  he  obtained  a  seat  in  the  Legis- 
lature in  1846,  and  the  following  year  was  chosen 
United  States  Senator,  while  Amos  Tuck,  after- 
ward a  prominent  Free  Soiler,  was  elected  to  the 
Lower  House  of  Congress.  These  were  pregnant 
events,  and  especially  the  triumph  of  Hale,  who 
became  a  very  formidable  champion  of  freedom, 
and  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  slavery  till  it  perished. 

In  the  meantime  the  hunger  for  immediate  an- 
nexation had  been  whetted  by  the  election  of  Mr. 


4"  /V/.//7,     .  HWS. 

Polk,  and  its  champions  hurried  up  their  work,  and 
pushed  it  by  methods  in  open  disregard  of  the  Con- 
stitution and  of  our  treaty  obligations  with  Mexico. 
In  the  last  hours  of  the  administration  of  John 
Tyler  the  atrocious  plot  received  its  finishing 
touch  and  the  Executive  approval,  and,  in  the  apt 
words  of  the  ablest  and  fairest  historian  of  the 
transaction,  "the  bridal  dress  in  which  Calhoun  had 
led  the  beloved  of  the  slaveocracy  to  the  Union  was 
the  torn  and  tattered  Constitution  of  the  United 
States."  War  with  Mexico,  as  prophesied  by  the 
Whigs,  speedily  followed.  As  early  as  August, 
1845,  General  Taylor  was  ordered  by  President 
Polk  to  advance  to  a  position  on  the  Nueces.  In 
March  of  the  folio  wing  year,  in  pursuance  of  further 
orders,  his  army  again  advanced,  taking  its  position 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and,  of  course, 
on  the  soil  of  Mexico.  Hostilities  naturally  fol- 
lowed, and  after  two  battles  the  President,  in  his 
message  to  Congress,  declared  that  "  American 
blood  has  been  shed  on  American  soil."  This 
robust  Executive  falsehood,  with  which  the  slave 
power  compelled  him  to  face  the  civilized  world, 
must  always  hold  a  very  high  rank  in  the  annals  of 
public  audacity  and  crime.  It  is  what  Thomas 
Carlyle  might  have  styled  "the  second  power  of  a 
lie,"  and  is  only  rivaled  by  the  parallel  falsehood  of 
Congress  in  declaring  that  "  by  the  act  of  the  Re- 
public of  Mexico  a  state  of  war  exists  between  that 
Government  and  the  United  States."  In  the  mes- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  47 

sage  of  the  President  referred  to,  he  recommended 
that  a  considerable  sum  of  money  be  placed  at  his 
disposal  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  a  peace,  and 
it  was  on  the  consideration  of  this  message  that 
David  Wilmot  fortunately  obtained  the  floor,  and 
moved  his  memorable  proviso  for  the  interdiction 
of  slavery  in  any  territory  which  might  be  wrested 
from  Mexico  by  our  arms.  This  was  the  session 
of  Congress  for  1846-47,  and  the  proposition 
passed  the  House  with  great  unanimity  as  to 
Northern  members.  At  the  following  session 
of  Congress,  on  the  28th  of  February,  1848,  the 
proviso  again  came  before  the  House,  and  the 
motion  to  lay  it  on  the  table  failed,  all  the  Whigs 
and  a  large  majority  of  the  Democrats  from  the  free 
IStates  voting  in  the  negative.  It  passed  the  House 
on  the  1 3th  of  December  following,  on  a  similar 
division  of  parties  and  sections,  but  the  Senate 
refused  to  concur,  and  the  Thirtieth  Congress  ad- 
journed without  making  any  provision  whatever 
for  the  organization  or  government  of  our  recently 
acquired  Territories. 

It  is  worth  while  to  notice  in  passing  that  on  the 
first  introduction  of  the  Wilmot  proviso,  in  August, 
1846,  General  Cass  was  decidedly  in  its  favor,  and 
regretted  that  it  had  been  talked  to  death  by  the  long 
speech  of  John  Davis ;  but  on  the  24th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1847,  he  wrote  his  famous  "Nicholson  letter," 
proclaiming  his  gospel  of  "  popular  sovereignty  " 
in  the  Territories,  which  proved  the  seed-plot  of 


48  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

immeasurable  national  trouble  and  disaster.  "  I 
am  strongly  impressed  with  the  opinion,"  said  he, 
"  that  a  great  change  is  going  on  in  the  public 
mind  on  this  subject — in  my  own  mind  as  well  as 
others " ;  and  he  had  before  declared,  on  the 
1 9th  of  February,  that  the  passage  of  the  Wilmot 
proviso  "  would  be  death  to  the  war,  death  to  all 
hope  of  getting  an  acre  of  territory,  death  to  the 
administration,  and  death  to  the  Democratic  party." 
This  was  thoroughly  characteristic,  and  in  perfect 
harmony  with  his  action,  already  referred  to,  re- 
specting the  Quintuple  treaty ;  but  it  showed  how 
the  political  waters  were  being  troubled  by  the 
slavery  question,  and  how  impossible  it  was  to  ac- 
commodate the  growing  anti-slavery  feeling  of  the 
country  by  any  shallow  expedients. 

But  another  conspiracy  against  freedom  was  now 
hatched;  and  if  the  Senate  had  strangled  the  Wil- 
mot proviso,  it  was  gratifying  to  find  the  House 
ready  to  strangle  this  monster  of  senatorial  birth. 
I  allude  to  the  now  almost  forgotten  "  Clayton 
Compromise,"  which  passed  the  Senate  by  a  de- 
cided majority  on  the  26th  of  July.  By  submit- 
ting the  whole  question  of  slavery  in  all  our  Ter- 
ritories to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
as  then  constituted,  it  would  almost  certainly  have 
spawned  the  curse  in  all  of  them,  including  Oregon, 
which  had  long  been  exposed  to  peril  and  massa- 
cre by  the  reckless  opposition  of  our  slave-masters 
to  a  government  there  without  the  recognition  of 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1844.  49 


slavery.  The  defeat  of  this  nefarious  proposition, 
which  was  happily  followed  by  the  passage  of  a 
bill  giving  Oregon  a  territorial  government,  is 
largely  due  to  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  whose  mo- 
tion to  lay  it  on  the  table  in  the  House  prevailed 
by  a  small  majority.  In  this  action  he  had  the 
courage  to  separate  himself  from  the  great  body 
of  the  leading  men  of  his  own  section  ;  but  in  doing 
so  he  was  prompted  by  his  supreme  devotion  to 
slavery.  This  he  has  since  denied  and  labored  to 
explain  in  his  private  correspondence  and  published 
works,  but  the  record  is  fatally  against  him.  He 
was  unwilling  to  trust  the  interests  of  the  South,  in 
the  hands  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  his  speech  of 
August  /th,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in 
defense  of  his  motion,  gave  very  plausible  rea- 
sons for  his  apprehensions  ;  but  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  of  a  few  years  later  showed  how  com- 
pletely he  misjudged  that  tribunal,  and  how  oppor- 
tunely his  blindness  came  to  the  rescue  of  freedom. 
It  seems  now  to  have  been  providential ;  for  in  this 
Continental  plot  against  liberty  the  superior  sa- 
gacity of  Calhoun  and  his  associates  was  demon- 
strated by  subsequent  events,  while  Mr.  Stephens, 
with  his  great  influence  in  the  South,  could  almost 
certainly  have  secured  its  triumph  if  he  had  become 
its  champion  instead  of  its  enemy. 
4 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   CAMPAIGN   OF     1848 — ITS     INCIDENTS   AND     RE- 
SULTS. 

The  approach  of  another  presidential  campaign — Party  divisions 
threatened  bj  the  Wilmot  proviso— Nomination  of  Gen.  Cass 
— The  "Nicholson  Letter" — Democratic  division  in  New 
York — The  nomination  of  Gen.  Taylor — Whig  divisions— 
Hirth  of  the  Free  Soil  party — The  Buffalo  Convention — 
Nomination  of  Van  Buren  and  Adams — Difficulty  of  uniting 
.  on  Van  Buren — Incidents — Rev.  Joshua  Leavitt — The  work 
of  the  campaign — Mr.  Webster  and  Free  Soil — Greeley  and 
Scwar.l — Abuse  of  Whig  bolters — Remarkable  results  of  the 
canvass. 

THE  approach  of  another  presidential  year  was 
thus  marked  by  a  steadily  growing  interest  in  the 
question  of  slavery.  The  conflict  with  it  seemed 
far  more  irrepressible  than  ever  before.  The 
Liberty  party  had  nominated  John  P.  Hale  as  its 
candidate  in  1847.  The  Whigs  in  Massachusetts 
were  threatened  with  an  incurable  division  into 
"  Conscience  Whigs  "  and  "  Cotton  Whigs,"  grow 
ing  out  of  the  question  of  annexation  and  the 
government  of  our  new  Territories.  The  same 
causes  were  dividing  the  Democrats  of  New  York, 
and  the  feud  was  seriously  aggravated  by  remem- 
bering the  defeat  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  1844,  for 
(50) 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  5  I 

the  one  sin  of  opposing  the  immediate  annexation  of 
Texas,  while  a  large  majority  of  the  party  favored 
his  nomination.  The  Van  Buren  element  in  the 
Democratic  party  threatened  revolt  in  other  States, 
while  both  Whigs  and  Democrats  in  the  North 
were  committed  to  the  policy  of  the  Wilmot  pro- 
viso. This  was  to  be  the  great  question  of  the  en- 
suing national  canvass,  and  the  roused  spirit  of  the 
people  of  the  free  States  seemed  clearly  to  fore- 
shadow the  triumph  of  freedom  in  the  organization 
and  government  of  our  Mexican  acquisitions. 

But  the  virtue  and  courage  of  our  politicians 
were  now  to  be  severely  tried.  The  power  of  party 
discipline  and  the  tempting  bait  of  the  spoils  were 
to  be  employed  as  never  before  in  swerving  men 
from  their  convictions.  The  South,  of  course,  was 
a  perfect  unit,  and  fully  resolved  upon  the  spread 
of  slavery  over  our  Territories.  It  had  always  been 
the  absolute  master  of  the  Northern  Democracy, 
and  had  no  dream  of  anything  less  than  the  su- 
premacy of  its  own  will.  Its  favorite  candidate 
was  now  Gen.  Cass,  and  he  was  nominated  by  the 
Baltimore  National  Convention  on  the  22d  day  of 
May.  It  was  a  fit  nomination  for  the  party  of 
slavery.  He  had  been  thirsting  for  it  many  years, 
and  had  earned  it  by  multiplied  acts  of  the  most 
obsequious  and  crouching  servility  to  his  southern 
overseers.  Again  and  again  he  had  crawled  in  the 
dust  at  their  feet,  and,  if  they  could  not  now  reward 
him  with  the  presidency,  it  seemed  utterly  useless 


5J  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

for  any  Northern  man  to  hope  for  their  favor.  The 
"Nicholson  letter"  was  not  all  that  the  South  want- 
ed, but  it  was  a  very  important  concession,  and  with 
Gen.  Cass  as  its  interpreter  it  meant  the  nearest 
thing  possible  to  a  complete  surrender.  In  this 
National  Convention  the  State  of  New  York  had 
two  sets  of  delegates,  both  of  which  were  formally 
admitted,  as  a  compromise;  but  the  members  of 
the  Van  Buren  or  Free  Soil  wing  refused  to  take 
their  seats,  and  thus  held  themselves  in  reserve  for 
such  revolutionary  work  as  should  afterward  seem 
to  them  advisable. 

The  Whig  National  Convention  met  in  Phila- 
delphia on  the  7th  of  June.  The  party  seemed 
completely  demoralized  by  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay 
in  the  previous  canvass,  and  was  now  in  search  of 
"  an  available  candidate,"  and  inspired  by  the  same 
miserable  policy  of  expediency  which  had  been  so 
barren  of  results  in  1840.  The  Northern  Whigs 
appeared  to  be  unanimously  and  zealously  com- 
mitted to  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  our  Terri- 
tories, but  equally  unanimous  and  zealous  in  the 
determination  to  succeed  in  the  canvass.  For  more 
than  a  year  Gen.  Taylor  had  been  growing  into 
favor  with  the  party  as  a  candidate,  and  he  had 
now  become  decidedly  formidable.  The  spectacle 
was  a  melancholy  one,  since  it  demonstrated  the 
readiness  of  this  once  respectable  old  party  to 
make  complete  shipwreck  of  everything  wearing 
the  semblance  of  principle,  for  the  sake  of  success. 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  2848.  53 

General  Taylor  had  never  identified  himself  in  any 
way  with  the  Whig  party.  He  had  spent  his  life 
as  a  mere  soldier  on  the  frontier,  and  had  never 
given  a  vote.  He  had  frankly  said  he  had  not 
made  up  his  mind  upon  the  questions  which 
divided  the  parties.  He  not  only  refused  to  be  the 
exponent  of  Whig  principles,  but  accepted  the 
nomination  of  bodies  of  men  not  known  as  Whigs, 
who  scouted  the  idea  of  being  bound  by  the  acts 
of  any  national  convention.  He  was  a  very  large 
slave-owner,  and  thus  identified  in  interest,  and  pre- 
sumably in  sympathy,  with  the  South ;  but  he 
could  not  be  induced  to  define  his  position.  His 
active  supporters  were  chiefly  from  the  slave-hold- 
ing States  and  those  free  States  which  had  gener- 
ally given  Democratic  majorities,  while  the  men 
most  violent  in  their  opposition  to  the  Wilmot 
proviso  were  his  most  conspicuous  followers;  but 
the  Whigs  from  the  free  States  vouched  for  his 
soundness  on  the  slavery  issue.  His  letters  con- 
tained nothing  but  vague  generalities,  and  he 
utterly  declined  to  commit  himself  on  the  question 
that  was  stirring. the  nation  to  its  depths.  To  the 
different  sections  of  the  Union  he  wore  a  different 
face,  and  each  section  seemed  confident  that  the 
other  would  be  duped,  while  cordially  joining  in 
a  common  struggle  for  the  spoils  of  office  which 
constituted  the  sole  bond  of  union.  His  early 
letters,  before  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  poli- 
ticians, were  frank  and  unstudied,  reflecting  his 


54  POLITICAL  RECi 

character  as  a  plain  old  soldier  without  any  political 
training;  but  his  later  letters  were  diplomatic,  not 
wanting  in  style  and  finish,  and  obviously  written 
by  others.  His  second  letter  to  Allison,  on  which 
the  campaign  was  finally  fought,  was  written  in  the 
room  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  in  Washington, 
after  consulting  with  Toombs  and  Crittenden,  and 
afterward  forwarded  to  Taylor,  who  gave  it  to  the 
world  as  his  own.  He  had  constantly  about  him 
a  sort  of  political  body-guard,  or  "  committee  of 
safety,"  to  direct  his  way  during  the  canvass,  and 
no  one  could  reasonably  pretend  that  any  principle 
whatever  would  be  settled  by  the  election.  He  had 
whipped  the  Mexicans,  and  the  Whig  platform  was 
"  Rough  and  Ready,"  "  A  little  more  Grape,  Cap- 
tain Bragg,"  and  political  success. 

The  nomination,  moreover,  was  accomplished 
by  methods  which  made  it  exceedingly  exasperat- 
ing to  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends.  The  treachery 
of  the  Whig  managers  to  their  great  leader  ex- 
ceeded that  which  had  sacrificed  him  at  the  Har- 
risburg  Convention  of  1839.  The  Whigs  of  Vir- 
ginia nominated  Taylor  on  the*  credit  of  a  forged 
despatch,  to  the  effect  that  Kentucky  had  decided 
in  his  favor,  and  thus  abandoned  her  favorite  son. 
General  Scott  had  expressed  his  willingness  to 
run  for  Vice  President  if  Clay  should  be  nomi- 
nated for  President,  but  the  member  of  Congress 
who  had  been  authorized  to  make  this  known 
kept  it  a  secret.  Clay  allowed  his  name  to  go  be- 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  5  5 

fore  the  Convention  on  the  assurance  of  Governor 
Bebb  that  Ohio  would  stand  by  him,  but  the  dele- 
gation voted  for  Scott.  On  the  first  ballot,  even 
seven  delegates  from  Kentucky  voted  for  Taylor, 
and  he  was  nominated  by  171  votes,  with  63  for 
Scott,  and  only  32  for  Clay.  Of  the  votes  for 
Taylor,  on  the  first  ballot,  97  were  cast  by 
States  that  had  voted  for  Polk  in  1844;  and  of 
the  94  Whig  delegates  from  the  Free  States  he  re- 
ceived the  votes  of  only  four.  He  was  nominated 
as  the  candidate  of  the  Whigs  who  believed  in  the 
extension  of  slavery,  by  a  Convention  which  re- 
peatedly and  contemptuously  voted  down  the  Wil- 
mot  proviso,  already  endorsed  by  all  the  Whig 
Legislatures  of  the  Free  States,  while  no  platform 
of  principles  was  adopted;  and  Horace  Greeley 
was  thus  perfectly  justified  in  branding  it  as  "  the 
slaughter-house  of  Whig  principles."  Such  an 
exhibition  of  shameless  political  prostitution  has 
rarely  been  witnessed,  and  three  of  the  leading 
Whigs  of  Massachusetts — Charles  Allen,  Henry 
Wilson,  and  Stephen  C.  Phillips — left  the  Conven- 
tion in  disgust,  and  severed  their  connection  with 
the  party  forever. 

In  this  state  of  the  country,  and  of  the  old  par- 
ties, a  new  organization  and  another  nomination  be- 
came inevitable.  The  followers  of  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
in  New  York  and  other  States,  were  aching 
for  the  opportunity  to  make  themselves  felt  in 
avenging  the  wrong  done  to  their  chief  in  1844, 


56  yw//yr.;/.  AKCOL/ . 

and  were  quite  ready  to  strike  hands  with  the 
members  of  the  Liberty  party.  The  members  of 
that  party  were  generally  ready  to  withdraw  their 
candidate  for  President  and  unite  with  the  anti- 
slavery  Whigs  and  Democrats  of  the  Northern 
States,  if  an  honorable  basis  of  action  could  be 
agreed  upon.  The  "Conscience  Whigs"  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  thousands  of  Whigs  in  other  States, 
who  regarded  the  freedom  of  our  Territories  as  a 
vital  issue,  and  were  thoroughly  soured  by  the 
nomination  of  General  Taylor,  were  equally  anx- 
ious to  fuse  with  the  other  elements  of  political 
discontent,  and  make  their  voices  heard  in  a  new 
and  independent  organization.  There  was  little 
time  for  delay,  and  as  soon  as  the  troubled  polit- 
ical elements  would  permit,  a  call  was  issued  for  a 
National  Free  Soil  Convention,  at  Buffalo,  on  the 
9th  of  August. 

The  Convention  was  historic.  It  marked  a  new 
and  significant  departure  in  party  politics,  and  was 
a  conspicuous  milestone  in  the  anti-slavery  journey. 
It  met  in  a  spacious  pavilion,  and  was  one  of  the 
largest  political  gatherings  ever  assembled  in  the 
country,  and  animated  by  unbounded  earnestness 
and  enthusiasm.  Its  leading  spirits  were  men  of 
character  and  undisputed  ability.  The  "  Barnburn- 
ers" of  New  York  were  largely  in  attendance,  includ- 
ing such  veteran  leaders  as  Preston  King,  Benjamin 
F.  Butler,  David  Dudley  Field,  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
and  James  W.  Nye.  Ohio  sent  a  formidable  force 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  57 

headed  by  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
and  Samuel  Lewis.  The  "  Conscience  Whigs  " 
of  Massachusetts  were  well  represented,  with 
Charles  Francis  Adams,  Stephen  C  Phillips,  and 
Francis  W.  Bird,  in  the  front.  The  Liberty  party 
sent  its  delegates,  including  such  men  as  the  Rev. 
Joshua  Leavitt,  Samuel  Lewis,  and  Henry  B. 
Stanton.  The  disappointed  Clay  Whigs  were  there, 
led  by  such  representative  men  as  Joseph  L. 
W7hite,  who  were  eager  to  lay  hold  of  any  weapon 
by  which  they  could  hope  to  strike  down  the  be- 
trayers of  the  Whig  cause.  The  "  Land  Reform- 
ers "  and  "  Workingmen "  of  New  York  were 
represented,  as  also  the  special  advocates  of 
"  Cheap  postage  for  the  people,"  who  longed  to  be 
rid  of  the  tariff  of  twenty-five  cents  on  the  privi- 
lege of  sending  a  single  letter  through  the  mails, 
and  whose  wishes  afterward  found  expression  in 
the  platform. 

Could  these  elements  be  harmonized  ?  Could 
the  bolters  from  the  Whig  party  overcome  their 
traditional  hatred  of  Martin  Van  Buren  ?  If  so, 
could  the  Liberty  party  men  be  prevailed  upon  to 
give  up  their  chosen  candidate,  and  labor  for  the 
election  of  the  "  foxy  old  politician"  whose  reputa- 
tion for  tricky  and  ambidextrous  political  methods 
had  become  proverbial  ?  If  not,  could  the  Barn- 
burners, with  their  large  following,  be  united  on  the 
candidate  of  the  Liberty  party,  or  some  new  man  ? 
These  questions  had  to  be  met ;  but  preliminary  to 


58  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  nomination  was  the  construction  of  a  platform. 
This  was  accomplished  without  serious  difficulty, 
and,  considering  the  circumstances  of  the  country, 
it  \\.is  perhaps  the  most  admirable  declaration  of 
principles  ever  promulgated  by  any  party.  It  was 
chiefly  the  work  of  Mr.  Chase,  assisted  by  Charles 
Fr.mcis  Adams,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  and  others, 
and  it  declared,  among  its  pregnant  and  telling 
sentences,  that  "  Congress  has  no  more  power  to 
make  a  slave  than  to  make  a  king,"  and  that  "  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government  to  relieve 
itself  from  all  responsibility  for  the  existence  or 
continuance  of  slavery  wherever  that  Government 
possesses  authority  to  legislate  and  is  thus  respon- 
sible for  its  existence."  The  reading  of  these  dec- 
larations called  forth  thunders  of  applause,  while 
the  last  plank  in  the  platform  "  resolved,  that  we  in- 
scribe on  our  banner  free  soil,  free  speech,  free 
labor,  and  free  men,  and  under  it  we  will  fight  on 
and  fight  ever,  until  a  triumphant  victory  shall 
reward  our  exertions." 

The  nominating  Convention  assembled  in  the 
large  Universalist  Church  in  Buffalo.  Mr.  Van 
Buren  was  not  understood  as  desiring  the  nomina- 
tion, but  it  was  now  authoritatively  stated  that  he 
would  accept  it  if  tendered,  and  that  he  would,  with- 
out hesitation  or  evasion,  accept  the  platform  of 
the  Convention.  The  different  elements  of  this 
movement  had  been  in  conference,  and  the  time  for 
action  was  at  hand.  In  common  with  my  Whig 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  59 

associates,  I  had  all  along  felt  that  I  could  not  sup- 
port Mr.  Van  Buren  under  any  circumstances; 
but  the  pervading  tone  of  earnestness  in  the  Con- 
vention, and  the  growing  spirit  of  political  frater- 
nity, had  modified  our  views.  We  saw  that  several 
of  the  great  leaders  of  the  Liberty  party  were  quite 
ready  to  meet  the  "  Barnburners"  on  common 
ground.  It  seemed  very  desirable  to  combine  with 
so  large  a  body  of  helpers,  and  to  profit  by  their 
experience  and  training  in  the  school  of  practical 
politics.  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  certainly  gone  great 
lengths  as  the  servant  of  the  slave  power,  but  there 
was  one  great  and  vital  issue  to  freedom  on  which 
he  had  taken  the  right  side,  and  maintained  it  with- 
out flinching  in  the  presence  of  a  great  temptation  ; 
and  for  this  he  had  been  anathematized  by  the 
South,  and  driven  into  retirement.  If  nominated  by 
the  anti-slavery  men  of  the  free  States,  and  squarely 
committed  to  their  principles,  it  was  altogether  im- 
probable, if  not  morally  impossible,  that  he  would 
again  lend  himself  to  the  service  of  slavery.  Be- 
sides, the  whole  country  had  been  so  demoralized 
by  this  evil  that  it  was  not  easy  to  find  any  public 
man  of  eminence  whose  record  had  been  spotless; 
and  it  was  a  part  of  the  work  of  earnest  anti-slavery 
men  to  forget  party  memories  and  prejudices  for  the 
sake  of  the  cause,,  and  to  cultivate  the  virtues  of 
hope  and  trust,  rather  than  the  spirit  of  doubt  and 
suspicion,  in  dealing  with  a  man  who  was  now 
ready  to  unfurl  the  flag  of  freedom,  and  had  been 


60  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

stricken  down  by  her  foes.  The  nomination  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren  would  undoubtedly  mean  the  freedom 
of  our  Territories  and  the  denationalization  of 
slavery,  and  this  was  the  great  point.  In  this 
movement  there  was  no  element  of  compromise. 
It  was  wholly  unhampered  by  a  Southern  wing; 
and  even  should  the  nominee -bet  ray  the  men  who 
now  trusted  him,  their  choice  of  him,  as  their 
standard  bearer,  would  be  vindicated  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the.  hour. 

Mr.  Chase,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood, 
and  a  splendid  figure,  was  the  president  of  this 
nominating  Convention,  and  its  work  proceeded. 
There  was  a  feeling  of  intense  anxiety  about  the  re- 
sult, and  an  earnestness  and  real  seriousness  which 
I  h.ive  never  witnessed  in  any  other  Convention. 
There  were  leading  Whigs  and  Liberty  party  men, 
whose  action  in  respect  to  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  not 
yet  generally  known.  Several  delegates  remarked, 
"  I  want  to  know  what  Samuel  Lewis  will  do  be- 
fore I  decide,"  or,  "  I  want  to  hear  from  Joshua 
Leavitt"  After  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren 
had  been  moved,  Mr.  Leavitt  rose  from  his  seat, 
and  all  eyes  were  instantly  turned  upon  him.  He 
was  then  in  middle  life,  and  his  tall  and  erect  form 
and  fine  physiognomy  were  singularly  striking. 
He  was  full  of  emotion,  and  seemed  at  first  to  lack 
the  power  of  utterance,  while  the  stillness  of  death 
prevailed  in  the  Convention.  He  began  by  saying: 
"  Mr.  Chairman,  this  is  the  most  solemn  experience 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  6 1 

of  my  life.  I  feel  as  if  in  the  immediate  presence 
of  the  Divine  Spirit."  He  paused  here  for  a  few 
moments,  while  there  did  not  seem  to  be  a  dry  eye 
in  the  Convention  ;  but  he  proceeded  grandly  with 
his  speech,  defined  his  position,  and  seconded  the 
motion  for  Mr.  Van  Buren's  nomination,  upon 
which  the  mingled  political  enthusiasm  and  re- 
ligious fervor  of  the  Convention  broke  over  all 
bounds,  .and  utterly  desfied  description.  Men 
laughed  and  cried  at  the  same  time,  and  gave 
themselves  up  to  the  perfect  abandon  of  their  feel- 
ings. All  divisions  had  completely  died  away, 
and  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  by  acclama- 
tion became  a  matter  of  course.  Charles  Francis 
Adams  was  then  nominated  for  Vice  President, 
when  the  Convention  adjourned,  and  its  members 
returned  to  their  homes  to  prepare  for  the  coming 
canvass  under  the  banner  of  "  Van  Buren  and  Free 
Soil — Adams  and  Liberty." 

The  new  national  party  was  now  launched,  and 
the  work  of  this  presidential  canvass  began  in  ear- 
nest. John  A.  Dix,  then  one  of  the  United  States 
Senators  from  New  York,  was  nominated  for  Gov- 
ernor, with  Seth  M.  Gates,  the  anti-slavery  col- 
league of  Adams  and  Giddings  in  Congress,  for 
Lieutenant-Governor.  The  Free  Soil  State  Con- 
vention of  Ohio  set  the  ball  in  motion  in  that  State, 
and  the  new  party,  by  securing  the  balance  of 
power  in  the  Legislature,  was  able  to  place  Mr. 
Chase  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Stephen 


62  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

C.  Phillips  was  nominated  for  Governor  in  M 
chusetts,  where  the  movement  was  very  formidable, 
and  exceedingly  annoying  to  the  "  Cotton  Whigs." 
Like  conventions  were  held  in  Indiana  and  other 
free  States,  organizations  effected,  and  candidates 
nominated,  while  the  movement  extended  to  the 
border  slave  States,  in  which  it  afterward  did  ex- 
cellent service.  The  canvass  of  the  Democrats  was 
not  remarkably  enthusiastic.  The  division  of  the 
party  and  the  probable  loss  of  the  State  of  New 
York  had  a  very  depressing  influence.  The  Whig 
canvass  was  perhaps  marked  by  still  less  earnest- 
ness and  spirit.  It  was  hollow  and  false,  and  the 
best  men  in  the  party  felt  it.  The  only  enthusiasm 
of  the  campaign  was  in  the  new  party,  and  it  was 
perfectly  spontaneous  and  fervid.  The  most  re- 
markable feature  of  this  contest  was  the  bitterness 
of  the  Whigs  toward  the  Free  Soilers,  and  especially 
those  who  had  deserted  from  the  Whig  ranks. 
They  seemed  to  be  maddened  by  the  imputation 
that  they  were  not  perfectly  sound  on  the  Free 
Soil  issue.  This  was  particularly  true  of  Mr. 
Webster,  who  had  been  branded  by  Mr.  Adams  as 
a  "  Traitor  to  freedom,"  as  far  back  as  the  year 
1848,  and  who  afterward  justified  these  strong 
words  in  his  "  Seventh  of  March  Speech."  In  the 
Whig  State  Convention  of  Massachusetts,  held  at 
Springfield,  in  1847,  Mr.  Webster,  speaking  of  the 
Wilmot  proviso,  had  said :  "  Did  I  not  commit  my- 
self to  that  in  the  year  1838,  fully,  entirely?  I  do 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  63 

not  consent  that  more  recent  discoverers  shall  take 
out  a  patent  for  the  discovery.  Allow  me  to  say, 
sir,  it  is  not  their  thunder."  He  then  claimed  Free 
Soil  as  a  distinctive  Whig  doctrine,  and  in  a  speech 
at  Abingdon,  he  now  said  :  "  The  gentlemen  who 
have  joined  this  new  party,  from  among  the  Whigs, 
pretend  that  they  are  greater  lovers  of  liberty  and 
greater  haters  of  slavery  than  those  they  leave  be- 
hind them.  I  do  not  admit  it.  I  do  not  admit  any 
such  thing.  I  think  we  are  as  good  Free  Soil  men 
as  they  are."  The  same  ground  was  urged  by 
Washington  Hunt,  James  Brooks,  and  other  leading 
Whigs;  and  Mr.  Greeley  declared  that  "  at  no  time 
previously  had  Whig  inculcations  throughout  the 
free  States  been  so  decidedly  and  strongly  hostile  to 
the  extension  of  slavery,  and  so  determined  in  re- 
quiring its  inhibition  by  Congress,  as  during  the 
canvass  of  1848."  'These  statements  appear  very 
remarkable,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  Whig 
nominee  was  a  Louisiana  planter,  and  the  owner 
of  three  hundred  negroes,  and  that  he  was  nomi- 
nated at  the  bidding  of  the  slave-holding  wing  of  the 
party,  and  by  a  convention  which  not  only  con- 
temptuously voted  down  the  Wilmot  proviso,  but 
treated  its  advocates  as  "  fanatics."  But  even  Gov- 
ernor Seward  strangely  clung  to  the  old  party  after 
the  death  and  burial  of  its  conscience,  and  seriously 
brought  his  personal  integrity  into  question  by 
urging  the  support  of  General  Taylor  upon  those 
who  favored  the  abolition  of  slavery.  In  a  speech 


64  fOLll  A  . / /.  RECOLLl 

at  Gcveland,  Ohio,  in  October  of  that  year,  he 
said:  "Freedom  insists  on  the  emancipation  and 
development  of  labor;  slavery  demands  a  soil  moist- 
ened with  tears  and  blood — freedom  a  soil  that  ex- 
ults under  the  elastic  tread  of  man  in  his  native 
majesty.  These  elements  divide  and  classify  the 
American  people  into  two  parties,"  and  he  pro- 
ceeded to  argue  as  if  the  Whigs  and  Democrats 
were  thus  divided,  when  he  knew  that  both  were 
in  the  absolute  control  of  the  slave  power. 

The  Free  Soilers,  of  course,  did  not  particularly 
relish  these  moral  lectures  on  slavery  by  men  who 
had  sold  their  principles  at  public  auction  for  the 
chance  of  office  and  plunder  through  the  elevation 
of  a  mere  military  chieftain  to  the  Presidency. 
But  the  Whigs  were  not  content  with  claiming  the 
complete  monopoly  of  anti-slavery  virtue,  and 
parading  it  before  the  country;  they  became 
abusive  and  insulting  to  the  full  measure  of  their 
insincerity.  Their  talk  about  "  renegades "  and 
"  apostates  "  anticipated  the  abuse  heaped  upon  the 
Greeley  men  of  1872,  when  the  Republican  party 
had  so  completely  triumphed  over  the  integrity  of 
its  earlier  life.  The  course  of  the  Whigs  in  In- 
diana supplies  a  striking  illustration.  After  the 
presidential  election  of  1844, 1  resolved  that  I  would 
never  vote  for  another  slaveholder,  and  the  course 
of  events  and  my  own  reflections  had  constantly 
strengthened  this  purpose.  I  saw  no  honorable 
way  of  escape,  and  my  position  was  well  known  to 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  65 

my  Whig  brethren  ;  but,  as  soon  as  General  Taylor 
was  nominated,  the  policy  of  brow-beating  and 
threats  was  invoked.  I  had  no  taste  for  politics, 
and  had  determined  to  devote  myself  entirely  to 
my  profession.  I  was  especially  anxious  to  avoid 
any  strife  with  the  Whigs,  who  were  overwhelm- 
ingly in  the  ascendant  in  Eastern  Indiana,  and  in 
whose  ranks  were  most  of  my  clients  and  best 
friends.  But  the  party  leaders  talked  to  me  in  the 
imperative  mood.  They  saw  my  embarrassment, 
and  seemed  determined  to  coerce  me  into  sub- 
mission by  the  supposed  extremity  of  my  situation ; 
and  I  was  obliged  to  offer  them  open  defiance.  I 
was  made  an  elector  for  Van  Buren  and  Adams  in 
the  Fourth  Indiana  District,  and  entered  upon  the 
contest  with  a  will;  and  from  that  time  forth  I  was 
subjected  to  a  torrent  of  billingsgate  which  rivalled 
the  fish  market.  Words  were  neither  minced  nor 
mollified,  but  made  the  vehicles  of  political  wrath 
and  the  explosions  of  personal  malice.  The  charge 
of  "  abolitionism  "  was  flung  at  me  everywhere, 
and  it  is  impossible  now  to  realize  the  odium  then 
attaching  to  that  term  by  the  general  opinion.  I 
was  an  "amalgamationist "  and  a  "woolly-head." 
I  was  branded  as  the  "  apostle  of  disunion  "  and 
"  the  orator  of  free-dirt."  It  was  a  standing  charge 
of  the  Whigs  that  I  carried  in  my  pocket  a1  lock 
of  the  hair  of  Frederick  Douglass,  to  regale  my 
senses  with  its  aroma  when  I  grew  faint.  They  de- 
clared that  my  audiences  consisted  of  "eleven  men, 


66  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

three  boys,  and  a  negro,"  and  sometimes  I  could 
not  deny  that  this  inventory  was  not  very  far  from' 
the  truth.  I  was  threatened  with  mob  violence  by 
my  own  neighbors,  and  treated  as  if  slavery  had 
been  an  established  institution  of  the  State,  with  its 
machinery  of  overseers  and  background  of  pauper- 
ized whites  ;  while  these  same  Whigs,  as  if  utterly 
unconscious  of  the  irony  of  their  professions,  uni- 
formly resolved,  in  their  conventions,  that  "the 
Whig  party  is  the  only  true  Free  Soil  party." 

I  was  not,  of  course,  a  non-resistant  in  this  war- 
fare, and  for  two  months  I  gave  myself  up  to  the 
work  absolutely.  I  was  seriously  embarrassed  in 
the  outset  by  the  question  of  transportation,  having 
neither  horse  nor  carriage,  nor  the  financial  ability 
to  procure  either  ;  but  an  anti-slavery  Quaker,  and 
personal  friend,  named  Jonathan  Macy,  came  to  my 
rescue.  He  furnished  me  an  old  white  horse,  fully 
seventeen  hands  high,  and  rather  thin  in  flesh,  but 
which  served  my  purpose  pretty  well.  I  named 
him  "  Old  Whitey,"  in  honor  of  General  Taylor's 
famous  war  steed,  and  sallied  forth  in  the  work  of 
the  campaign.  Having  a  first-class  pair  of  lungs 
and  much  physical  endurance,  I  frequently  spoke 
as  often  as  three  times  a  day,  and  generally  from 
two  to  three  hours  at  each  meeting.  I  sporcc  at 
cross-roads,  in  barns,  in  pork  houses,  in  saw-mills, 
in  any  place  in  which  a  few  or  many  people  would 
hear  me ;  but  I  was  rarely  permitted  to  enter  any 
of  the  churches.  I  was  so  perfee*lv  swallowed  up 


THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1848.  67 

in  my  work  and  dominated  by  the  singleness  of 
my  purpose,  that  I  took  no  thought  of  anything 
else ;  and  the  vigor  of  my  invective  in  dealing  with 
the  scurrilous  attacks  of  my  assailants  was  very 
keenly  realized,  and,  I  believe,  universally  acknowl- 
edged. With  the  truth  on  my  side,  I  was  delighted 
to  find  myself  perfectly  able,  single-handed,  to 
fight  my  battle  against  the  advantages  of  superior 
talent  and  the  trained  leadership  of  men  of  estab- 
lished reputation  on  the  stump.  But  the  fight,  as  I 
have  said,  was  unspeakably  relentless,  vitriolic  and 
exhausting,  and  nothing  could  redeem  it  but  an 
overmastering  sense  of  duty  and  self-respect.  The 
worst  passions  of  humanity  were  set  on  fire  among 
the  Whigs  by  this  provoking  insurrection  against 
their  party  as  the  mere  tool  of  slavery,  while  ani- 
mosities were  engendered  that  still  survive,  and 
which  many  men  have  carried  to  their  graves. 
This  is  only  a  single  illustration  of  the  spirit  of 
the  canvass,  for  similar  conflicts  marked  the 
struggle  in  Ohio,  Massachusetts  and  Bother  States, 
and  they  were  made  inevitable  by  the  desperation 
of  a  party  already  dead  in  its  trespasses,  and 
which  deserved  a  funeral  instead  of  a  triumph. 

The  results  of  this  contest  were  most  remark- 
able. General  Taylor  was  elected,  but  his  triumph 
was  the  death  of  the  Whig  party.  The  long-cov- 
eted prize  of  the  presidency  was  snatched  from 
General  Cass,  and  the  Democratic  party  divided 
and  humiliated  by  its  struggle  to  serve  two  masters, 


68  •  POUTICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

while  the  friends  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  their 
longed-for  revenge.  The  Free  Soil  ticket  received 
a  little  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  votes, 
and  failed  to  carry  the  electoral  vote  of  a  single 
State;  but  the  effect  of  the  movement  was  inesti- 
mably important.  It  seated  Chase  in  the  United 
States  Senate  from  Ohio,  and  sent  to  the  lower 
branch  of  Congress  a  sufficient  number  of  anti- 
slavery  men  from  different  States  to  hold  the 
balance  of  power  in  that  body.  It  was  very 
savingly  felt  in  Congress  in  July  of  this  year,  on 
the  vote  by  which  Oregon,  with  a  territory  nearly 
equal  to  that  of  the  thirteen  original  States,  nar- 
rowly escaped  the  damnation  of  slavery.  It  em- 
phasized the  demand  of  the  million  for  "  cheap 
postage,"  and  the  freedom  of  the  public  domain, 
and  thus  helped  stereotype  these  great  measures 
into  law ;  and  it  played  its  part  in  creating  the 
public  opinion  which  compelled  the  admission  of 
California  as  a  free  State.  These  were  great 
achievements,  but  they  were  mere  preliminaries  to 
the  magnificent  and  far-reaching  work  of  succeed- 
ing years,  of  which  the  revolt  of  1848  was  the 
promise  and  pledge. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

REMINISCENCES     OF     THE     THIRTY-FIRST     CONGRESS. 

Novel  political  complications — The  Compromise  Measures — First 
election  to  Congress — Sketch  of  the  "  immortal  nine  " — The 
speakcrship  and  Wm.  J.  Brown — Gen.  Taylor  and  the  Wil- 
mot  proviso — Slave-holding  bluster — Compromise  resolutions 
of  Clay,  and  retreat  of  Northern  Whigs — Visit  to  Gen.  Taylor 
— To  Mr.  Clay — His  speeches — Webster's  seventh  of  March 
speech — Character  of  Calhoun — Speech  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion. 

THE  scheme  of  "pacification"  and  "final  settle- 
ment," which  was  launched  in  1850,  under  the 
leadership  of  Henry  Clay,  constitutes  one  of  the 
chief  landmarks  in  the  history  of  the  great  conflict 
between  freedom  and  slavery.  It  was  the  futile 
attempt  of  legislative  diplomacy  to  escape  the  fatal 
logic  of  antecedent  facts.  The  war  with  Mexico, 
like  the  annexation  of  Texas  which  paved  the  way 
for  it,  was  inspired  by  the  lust  for  slave  territory. 
No  sophistry  could  disguise  this  fact,  nor  could  its 
significance  be  overstated.  The  prophets  of  slavery 
saw  clearly  that  restriction  meant  destruction. 
They  girded  themselves  for  battle  on  this  issue, 
and  were  not  at  all  placated  by  Northern  disclaim- 
ers of  "  abolitionism,"  and  reiterated  disavowals 
of  any  right  or  purpose  to  intermeddle  with 
(69) 


70  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

slavery  as  the  creature  of  State  law.  Its  exist- 
ence was  menaced  by  the  policy  of  confinement 
and  ultimate  suffocation  ;  and  therefore  no  compro- 
mise of  the  pending  strife  over  its  .prohibition  in 
New  Mexico,  Utah  and  California  was  possible. 

This  strife  was  aggravated  by  its  peculiar  rela- 
tions to  the  dominant  political  parties.  The  sacri- 
fice of  Martin  Van  Buren  in  1844,  because  of  his 
manly  letter  on  the  annexation  of  Texas,  had  been 
a  sore  trial  to  his  devoted  friends.  They  could 
neither  forgive  nor  forget  it ;  and  when  the  oppor- 
tunity for  revenge  finally  came  in  1848,  they  laid 
hold  of  it  with  the  sincerest  and  most  heartfelt 
satisfaction.  As  we  have  seen,  they  bolted  from 
their  party,  threw  themselves  into  the  Free  Soil 
movement,  and  thus  made  the  defeat  of  Gen.  Cass 
inevitable  by  the  election  of  Gen.  Taylor.  Thou- 
sands of  these  bolting  Democrats,  particularly  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  cared  more  for  the  per- 
sonal and  political  fortunes  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  than 
for  the  slavery  question,  as  their  subsequent  return 
to  their  party  allegiance  made  manifest ;  but  their 
action  was  none  the  less  decisive  in  the  emergency 
which  called  it  forth.  The  trouble  in  the  Whig 
camp  was  also  serious.  The  last  hopes  of  Mr. 
Clay  and  his  worshipers  had  perished  forever  in 
the  nomination  of  the  hero  of  the  Mexican  war 
and  the  owner  of  two  hundred  slaves,  by  a  Conven- 
tion which  became  famous  as  "  the  slaughterhouse 
of  Whig  principles."  Very  many  of  these  Clay 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  71 

Whigs,  like  the  devotees  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  would 
have  been  satisfied  with  almost  any  disposition  of 
the  slavery  issue  if  their  chief  had  been  nominated, 
but  they  were  now  enlisted  in  the  anti-slavery 
army,  and,  like  Joseph  L.  White,  of  Indiana,  vocif- 
erously shouted  for  "  liberty  and  revenge."  Mr. 
Webster  and  his  friends  were  also  profoundly  dis- 
gusted, and  lent  a  strong  hand  to  the  Tvork  of 
party  insubordination,  while  the  election  of  Gen. 
Taylor  was  quite  naturally  followed  by  formidable 
party  coalitions.  One  of  these,  as  already  stated, 
made  Salmon  P.  Chase  a  senator  of  the  United 
States  from  Ohio,  as  John  P.  Hale  had  been 
chosen  from  New  Hampshire  some  time  before, 
and  Charles  Sumner  came  in  a  little  later  from 
Massachusetts;  and  the  House  of  Representatives 
now  contained  nine  distinctively  anti-slavery  men, 
chosen  from  different  States  by  kindred  combina- 
tions, who  had  completely  renounced  their  alle- 
giance to  the  old  parties,  ard  were  able  to  wield  the 
balance  of  power  in  that  body.  Such  were  the 
complications  of  the  great  problem  which  con- 
fronted the  Thirty-first  Congress  at  the  opening  of 
its  first  session,  on  the  third  day  of  December, 
1849. 

In  this  Congress  I  was  a  representative,  for  the 
first  time,  of  the  Fourth  Indiana  District.  This  dis- 
trict contained  a  large  Quaker  population,  and  in 
the  matter  of  liberality  and  progress  was  in 
advance  of  all  other  portions  of  the  State  ;  and  yet 


/W  //'/CM/.    AV-V. 


the  immeasurable  wrath  and  scorn  which  were 
-lied  upon  the  men  who  deserted  the  Whig 
party  on  account  of  the  nomination  of  General 
I.iylor  can  scarcely  be  conceived.  The  friends 
of  a  life-time  were  suddenly  turned  into  enemies, 
and  their  words  were  often  dipped  in  venom.  It 
seemed  as  if  a  section  of  Kentucky  or  Virginia  had 
in  some  way  usurped  the  geography  of  Eastern 
Indiana,  bringing  with  it  the  discipline  of  the  slave- 
master,  and  a  considerable  importation  of  "  whitr 
trash."  The  contest  was  bitter  beyond  all  prece- 
dent; but  after  a  hard  fight,  and  by  a  union  of 
Free  Soilers,  Democrats,  and  Independent  Whigs. 
I  was  elected  by  a  small  majority.  Owing  to  seri- 
ous illness,  resulting  from  the  excitement  and  over- 
work of  the  canvass,  I  did  not  reach  Washington 
till  the  ipth  of  December— just  in  time  to  oast  my 
vote  for  speaker  on  the  fifty-sixth  ballot  in  this 
first  important  "  dead-lock  "  in  the  organization  of 
the  House.  With  the  exception  of  two  Indiana 
members,  I  had  no  personal  acquaintance  in  cither 
branch  of  Congress,  and,  on  entering  the  old  Hall 
of  Representatives,  my  first  thought  was  to  find 
the  Free  Soil  members,  whose  political  fortunes 
and  experience  had  been  so  similar  to  my  own. 
The  seat  of  Mr.  Giddings  was  pointed  out  to  me 
in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  Hall,  where  I  found 
the  stalwart  champion  of  free  speech  busy  with  hi- 
pen.  lie  received  me  with  evident  cordiality,  and 
at  once  sent  a  page  for  the  other  Free  Soil  meru- 


THE  THIRTY- FIRST  CONGRESS.  73 


bers.  Soon  the  "  immortal  nine,"  as  we  were  often 
sportively  styled,  were  all  together :  David  Wil- 
mot,  of  Pennsylvania,  then  famous  as  the  author 
of  the  "  Proviso,"  short  and  corpulent  in  person, 
and  emphatic  in  speech  ;  Preston  King,  of  New 
York,  with  his  still  more  remarkable  rotundity  of 
belt,  and  a  face  beaming  with  good  humor ;  the 
eccentric  and  witty  "  Jo  Root,"  of  Ohio,  always 
ready  to  break  a  lance  with  the  slave-holders ; 
Charles  Allen,  of  Massachusetts,  the  quiet,  digni- 
fied, clear-headed  and  genial  gentleman,  but  a 
good  fighter  and  the  unflinching  enemy  of  slavery ; 
Charles  Durkee,  of  Wisconsin,  the  fine-looking  and 
large-hearted  philanthropist,  whose  enthusiasm 
never  cooled ;  Amos  Tuck,  of  New  Hampshire, 
amiable  and  somewhat  feminine  in  appearance,  but 
firm  in  purpose;  John  W.  Howe,  of  Pennsylvania, 
with  a  face  radiant  with  smiles  and  good  will,  and 
full  of  anti-slavery  fervor ;  and  Joshua  R.  Giddings, 
of  Ohio,  with  his  broad  shoulders,  giant  frame, 
unquenchable  love  of  freedom,  and  almost  as 
familiar  with  the  slavery  question,  in  all  its  aspects, 
as  he  was  with  the  alphabet.  These,  all  now  gone 
to  their  reckoning,  were  the  elect  of  freedom  in 
the  lower  branch  of  this  memorable  Congress. 
They  all  greeted  me  warmly,  and  the  more  so, 
perhaps,  because  my  reported  illness  and  doubtful 
recovery  had  awakened  a  peculiar  interest  in  my 
fortunes  at  that  time,  on  account  of  the  political 
situation,  and  the  possible  significance  of  a  single 


74  POLITICAL  KECVI  I  A CT/ONS. 

vote.  John  P.  I  Me  happened  to  enter  the  hall 
during  these  congratulations,  and  still  further 
lighted  up  the  scene  by  his  jolly  presence ;  while 
Dr.  Bailey,  of  the  "National  Era,"  also  joined  in 
the  general  welcome,  and  at  once  confirmed  all  the 
good  opinions  I  had  formed  of  this  courageous  and 
single-minded  friend  of  the  slave.  I  was  delighted 
with  all  my  brethren,  and  at  once  entered  fully  into 
their  plans  and  counsels. 

An  incident  connected  with  the  organization  of 
the  House,  which  caused  intense  excitement  at  the 
time,  seems  to  deserve  some  notice.  It  occurred 
on  the  1 2th  of  December,  while  William  J.  Brown, 
of  Indiana,  was  being  voted  for  as  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  Speaker.  He  was  a  pro-slavery  Dem- 
ocrat, through  and  through,  and  commanded  the 
entire  and  unhesitating  confidence  of  Southern 
members ;  and  yet,  on  the  last  ballot  for  him,  he 
received  the  votes  of  Allen,  Durkee,  Giddings, 
King,  and  Wilmot,  and  came  within  two  votes  of 
an  election.  The  support  of  Mr.  Brown  by  the 
leading  Free  Soilers  was  a  great  surprise  to  both 
sides  of  the  House,  and  the  suspicion  that  some 
secret  arrangement  had  been  made  gave  birth  to  a 
rumor  to  that  effect.  After  the  balloting,  while 
Mr.  Bailey,  of  Virginia,  was  on  the  floor,  Mr.  Ash- 
mun,  of  Massachusetts,  asked  him  whether  a  secret 
correspondence  had  not  taken  place  between  some 
member  of  the  Free  Soil  party  and  Mr.  Brown,  by 
which  the  latter  had  agreed  to  constitute  the  Com- 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  75 

mittees  on  the  Judiciary,  on  Territories,  and  on 
the  District  of  Columbia,  in  a  manner  satisfactory 
to  that  party.  Mr.  Bailey  scouted  the  idea,  and 
asked  Mr.  Ashmun  what  authority  he  had  for  the 
statement.  Mr.  Ashmun  replied,  "  Common  rur 
mor";to  which  Mr.  Bailey  rejoined,  "  Does  not  the 
gentleman  know  that  common  rumor  is  a  common 
liar  ?  "  Turning  to  Mr.  Brown  he  said,  "  Has  any 
such  correspondence  taken  place  ? "  Mr.  Brown 
shook  his  head,  and  Mr.  Bailey  became  more  em- 
phatic than  ever  in  his  denial.  But  the  fever  was 
now  up,  and  the  Southern  members  scented  trea- 
son. Several  of  them  withheld  their  votes  from 
Mr.  Brown  because  of  his  Free  Soil  support,  and 
thus  prevented  his  election.  He  was  in  a  very 
trying  dilemma  with  his  Southern  friends,  while 
the  Free  Soilers  who  had  supported  him  were  also 
placed  in  a  novel  predicament,  and  subjected  to 
catechism.  The  fact  was  finally  revealed  in  the 
course  of  a  long  and  exciting  debate,  that  Mr.  Wil- 
mot  had  entered  into  a  correspondence  with  Mr. 
Brown  on  the  subject  of  the  organization  of  the 
Committees  named,  and  that  the  latter  had  prom- 
ised in  writing  to  constitute  them  as  stated  in  Mr. 
Ashmun's  inquiry — declaring  that  he  had  "always 
been  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery,"  and 
believed  that  "  the  Federal  Government  should  be 
relieved  from  the  responsibility  of  slavery  where  it 
had  the  constitutional  right  to  abolish  it."  This, 
in  substance,  was  the  whole  Free  Soil  gospel ;  and 


76  POLITICAL  Kl  <•«/.//.(  IIONS, 

the  disappointment  and  rage  of  Southern  members, 
when  the  letter  was  produced,  can  be  more  easily 
imagined  than  described.  Mr.  Brown  labored  very 
painfully  to  explain  his  letter  and  pacify  his  South 
ern  friends,  but  the  effort  was  utu-ily  vain.  He 
was  branded  with  treachery  and  duplicity  by  Bai- 
ley, Harris,  Burt,  Venable,  Stanton,  and  McMullcn, 
while  no  man  from  the  South  pretended  to  excuse 
him.  In  the  midst  of  great  excitement  he  with- 
drew from  the  contest  for  Speaker,  and  the  catas- 
trophe of  his  secret  maneuver  was  so  unspeakably 
humiliating  that  even  his  enemies  pitied  him.  But 
he  was  unjustly  dealt  with  by  his  Southern  breth- 
ren, whose  fear  of  betrayal  and  morbid  sensitive- 
ness made  all  coolness  of  judgment  impossible. 
While  he  possessed  very  social  and  kindly  per- 
sonal traits  of  character,  no  man  in  this  Congrvss 
was  more  inflexibly  true  to  slavery,  as  his  subse- 
quent career  amply  demonstrated.  If  he  had  been 
chosen  Speaker  he  would  doubtless  have  placed 
some  of  the  Free  Soil  members  on  the  Committees 
specified,  but  the  whole  power  of  his  office  would 
have  been  studiously  subservient  to  the  behests  of 
the  slave  oligarchy  ;  and  nothing  could  excuse  the 
conduct  of  Mr.  Wilmot  and  his  associates  but  their 
entire  ignorance  of  his  political  character  and  an- 
tecedents. I  regretted  this  affair  most  sincerely, 
for  I  knew  Mr.  Brown  well,  and  could  undoubtedly 
have  prevented  the  negotiation  if  I  had  been 
present 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  77 

The  Speakershipwas  obviously  the  first  question 
on  which  the  slave  power  must  be  met  in  the 
Thirty-first  Congress.  No  question  could  more 
completely  have  presented  the  entire  controversy 
between  the  free  and  slave  States  which  had  so 
stirred  the  country  during  the  previous  eighteen 
months.  In  view  of  the  well-nigh  autocratic 
power  of  the  Speaker  over  legislative  measures,  no 
honest  Free  Soiler  could  vote  for  a  candidate  who 
was  not  known  to  be  sound  on  the  great  issue. 
We  could  not  support  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia, 
the  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party,  however 
anxious  our  Democratic  constituents  might  be  to 
have  us  do  so ;  nor  could  we  vote  for  Robert  C. 
Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts,  to  please  the  Whigs 
and  semi-Free  Soilers  who  affiliated  with  them, 
since  Giddings,  Palfrey  and  others  had  demon- 
strated that  he  was  wholly  untrustworthy  in  facing 
the  ragged  issue  of  slavery.  This  had  been  proved 
by  his  acts  as  Speaker  in  the  preceding  Congress. 
We  therefore  united  in  the  determination  to  vote 
for  neither  of  these  candidates.  The  contest  was 
protracted  till  December  22d,  when,  on  the  sixty 
third  ballot,  Mr.  Cobb  was  chosen.  The  result 
was  effected,  by  adopting,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Whigs,  what  was  called  the  "  plurality  rule,"  the 
operation  of  which  enabled  a  minority  to  choose 
the  speaker.  The  Whigs,  when  they  entered  upon 
this  proceeding,  well  knew  that  the  Free  Soilers 
were  willing  and  anxious  to  vote  for  Thaddeus 


78  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Stevens,  or  any  other  reliable  member  of  the 
party.  They  well  knew  that  none  of  us  would 
vote  for  Mr.  Winthrop,  under  any  circumstances, 
and  for  excellent  reasons  which  we  had  announced. 
Further,  they  well  knew  that  without  Free  Soil 
votes  Mr.  Cobb  would  certainly  be  chosen ;  and 
yet  the  angry  cry  went  up  from  the  Whigs  in 
Congress  and  throughout  the  Northern  States  that 
the  Free  Soilers  had  elected  a  slave-holder  to  be 
speaker  of  the  House  I  For  a  time  the  ridiculous 
charge  served  the  purpose  of  its  authors,  but 
the  subsequent  career  of  Mr.  Winthrop  finally 
and  entirely  vindicated  the  sagacity  of  the  men 
whose  resolute  opposition  had  thwarted  his  ambi- 
tion. 

In  the  further  organization  of  the  House  Mr. 
Campbell,  a  Tennessee  slave-holder,  was  chosen 
clerk  on  the  twentieth  ballot,  by  the  help  of  South- 
ern Democrats,  over  John  W.  Forney,  who  was 
then  the  particular  friend  of  James  Buchanan,  and 
who  had  made  himself  so  conspicuous  by  his 
abuse  of  anti-slavery  men  that  the  Free  Soil  mem- 
bers could  not  give  him  their  support.  On  the 
eighth  ballot  Mr.  Glossbrenner,  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  nominee  of  the  Democrats,  was  chosen  ser- 
geant-at-arms,  and  after  fourteen  ineffectual  ballots 
for  doorkeeper,  Mr.  Horner,  the  Whig  incumbent 
in  the  preceding  Congress,  was  continued  by  reso- 
lution of  the  House.  This  was  on  January  i8th, 
and  the  organization  of  the  House  was  not  yet 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  79 

completed,  but  further  proceedings  in  this  direction 
were  now  postponed  till  the  first  of  March. 

In  the  meantime  the  slavery  question  had  been 
receiving  daily  attention.  The  strife  over  the 
Speakership  had  necessarily  involved  it,  and  con- 
stantly provoked  its  animated  discussion.  The  great 
issue  was  the  Congressional  prohibition  of  slavery 
in  the  Territories,  then  popularly  known  as  the 
"  Wilmot  proviso  " ;  and  the  first  vote  on  it  was 
taken  December  3ist,  upon  the  motion  to  lay  on  the 
table  Mr.  Root's  resolution  which  embodied  it.  The 
yeas  were  83,  nays  101 ;  being  a  majority  of  only 
1 8  in  its  favor.  The  Southern  men  seemed  to 
gather  hope  and  courage  from  this  vote.  On  Jan- 
uary 4th,  the  President  sent  in  his  special  message 
relative  to  California  and  New  Mexico,  announcing 
his  famous  "  Non-action  "  policy,  which  was  sim- 
ply another  name  for  the  "  Non-intervention " 
dogma  of  Gen.  Cass.  A  year  before  he  had  de- 
clared that  the  new  Territories  must  not  be  "  sur- 
rendered to  the  pistol  and  the  bowie-knife  "  ;  but  a 
new  light  now  dawned  on  him,  and  he  advised 
Congress  to  leave  the  Territories  to  themselves  till 
their  people  should  be  prepared  to  ask  admission 
into  the  Union  as  States.  He  talked  as  glibly 
about  "  geographical  parties  "  and  the  "  operation 
of  natural  causes  "  as  any  trained  Whig  politician, 
and  seemed  to  have  totally  forgotten  his  repeated 
pledges  not  to  interfere  with  the  action  of  Congress 
respecting  "  domestic  questions."  While  the  hand 


80  POL1HCAI.  AV.(  01. LECTIONS. 

«-t  the  Executive  was  thus  at  work,  extreme  men  in 
both  Houses  led  the  way  in  violent  and  inflamma- 
tory speeches.  "When  we  ask  for  justice,  .md  to 
be  let  alone,"  said  Mr.  Clingman,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, "we  are  met  by  the  senseless  and  insane  cry 
of  Union,  Union!  Sir,  I  am  disgusted  with  it. 
When  it  comes  from  Northern  gentlemen  who  are 
attacking  us,  it  falls  on  my  ear  as  it  would  do  if  a 
band  of  robbers  had  surrounded  a  dwelling,  and 
when  the  inmates  attempted  to  resist,  the  assailants 
should  raise  the  cry  of  peace,  union,  harmony!" 
He  gave  out  the  threat,  that  unless  the  slave-hold- 
ers were  allowed  to  extend  their  system  over  the 
virgin  soil  of  our  Territories,  they  would  block  the 
wheels  of  Government,  and  involve  the  nation  in 
the  horrors  of  civil  war.  He  charged  that  the  free 
States  "  keep  up  and  foster  in  their  bosoms  Aboli- 
tion Societies,  whose  main  purpose  is  to  scatter 
fire-brands  throughout  the  South,  to  incite  servile 
insurrections,  and  stimulate  by  licentious  pictures 
our  negroes  to  invade  the  persons  of  our  white 
women."  Mr.  Brown,  of  Mississippi,  said  he  re- 
garded slavery  "  as  a  great  moral,  social,  and  re- 
ligious blessing. — a  blessing  to  the  slave,  and  a 
blessing  to  the  master."  He  graciously  admitted 
that  Northern  people  thought  slavery  an  evil ;  but 
he  added,  "  Very  well,  think  so ;  but  kccf>  your 
thoughts  to  yourselves"  Jefferson  Davis,  then  as 
ever  afterward,  the  apostle  of  disunion,  declared 
that  "  slavery  existed  in  the  tents  of  the  patriarchs, 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  8 1 


and  in  the  households  of  His  own  chosen  people  "; 
that  "  it  was  established  by  decree  of  Almighty 
God, "  and  "  sanctioned  in  the  Bible — in  both  Testa- 
ments— from  Genesis  to  Revelations."  Southern 
members  pointed  to  the  battle-fields  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  warned  the  people  of  the  free  States  to 
beware;  while  the  menace  was  uttered  that  if  the 
representatives  of  the  Northern  States  should  vote 
California  into  the  Union  as  a  free  State,  without 
some  compensating  measures  to  the  South,  their 
numbers  would  be  decimated  by  violence.  Mr. 
Toombs,  in  referring  to  the  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  the  common  territory,  said,  "  I  will  then,  if  I 
can,  bring  my  children  and  my  constituents  to  the 
altar  of  liberty,  and  like  Hamilcar,  I  will  swear 
them  to  eternal  hostility  to  your  foul  domination." 
On  January  29th,  Mr.  Clay  introduced  his  eight 
resolutions  of  compromise,  which  still  further  weak- 
ened the  anti-slavery  policy  of  Northern  Whigs  ; 
and  when,  on  February  4th,  another  vote  was  taken 
on  the  Wilmot  proviso,  it  was  laid  on  the  table  by 
yeas  104,  nays  75; — showing  a  majority  of  29,  and 
a  change  of  47  votes  in  a  little  more  than  one  month  ! 
Thus  began  the  sickening  career  of  political  apos- 
tacy,  which  so  gathered  momentum  during  the 
spring  and  summer  months  that  it  became  impos- 
sible to  admit  the  free  State  of  California  into  the 
Union  till  the  passage  of  the  Texas  Boundary  Bill 
and  the  new  Fugitive  Slave  Act  had  been  made 
certain. 
6 


82  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

1  n  ly  in  the  session  I  called  on  President  Taylor 
with  Mr.  Giddings  and  Judge  Allen.  I  had  a  very 
strong  curiosity  to  sec  the  man  whose  name  I  had 
used  so  freely  in  two  exasperating  political  cam- 
paigns, and  desired  to  stand  corrected  in  my  estimate 
of  his  character,  if  I  should  find  such  correction  to 
be  demanded  by  the  truth.  Our  interview  with  the 
old  soldier  was  exceedingly  interesting  and  amus- 
ing. I  decidedly  liked  his  kindly,  honest,  farmer- 
like  face,  and  his  old  fashioned  simplicity  of  dress 
and  manners.  His  conversation  was  awkward  and 
labored,  and  evinced  a  lack  of  self-possession  ;  while 
his  whole  demeanor  suggested  his  frontier  life,  and 
that  he  had  reached  a  position  for  which  he  was 
singularly  unfitted  by  training  and  experience,  or 
by  any  natural  aptitude.  In  the  few  remarks  he 
addressed  to  me  about  farming  in  the  West,  he 
greatly  amused  us  by  saying,  "  I  would  like  to 
visit  Indiana,  and  see  your  plows,  hoes — and  other 
reaping  implements  ";  failing,  as  he  often  did,  to 
find  the  word  he  wanted.  He  frequently  mispro- 
nounced his  words,  hesitated  and  stammered,  and 
sometimes  made  a  breakdown  in  the  middle  of  a 
sentence.  But  although  he  seemed  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  slave-holders,  and  was  about  to  pro- 
claim his  policy  of  non-intervention  with  slavery 
in  the  Territories,  he  impressed  me  as  being  per- 
sonally honest  and  patriotic.  In  this  impression  I 
was  fully  confirmed  later  in  the  session,  when 
he  sorrowfully  but  manfully  resisted  the  attempt 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  83 

of  Senator  Davis,  his  son-in-law,  and  other  ex- 
treme men,  to  bully  him  into  their  measures,  and 
avowed  his  sympathy  with  the  anti-slavery  senti- 
ment of  the  country.  I  believe  his  dying  words 
in  July,  "  I  have  tried  to  do  my  duty,"  were  the 
key-note  of  his  life,  and  that  in  the  Presidential 
campaign  of  1848,  I  did  him  much,  though  unin- 
tentional, injustice. 

It  was  about  the  same  time  that  I  called  with 
other  Western  members  to  see  Mr.  Clay,  at  the 
National  Hotel.  He  received  us  with  the  most 
gracious  cordiality,  and  perfectly  captivated  us  all 
by  the  peculiar  and  proverbial  charm  of  his  man- 
ners and  conversation.  I  remember  nothing  like 
it  in  the  social  intercourse  of  my  life.  One  of  our 
party  was  Hon.  L.  D.  Campbell,  then  a  prominent 
Whig  politician  of  Ohio,  and  an  old  friend  of  Mr. 
Clay,  who  seemed  anxious  to  explain  his  action  in 
supporting  Gen.  Scott  in  the  National  Convention 
of  1848.  He  failed  to  satisfy  Mr.  Clay,  whose  eye 
kindled  during  the  conversation,  and  who  had 
desired  and  counted  on  the  nomination  himself. 
Mr.  Clay,  addressing  him,  but  turning  to  me,  said  : 
"I  can  readily  understand  the  position  of  our 
friend  from  Indiana,  whose  strong  opinions  on  the 
slavery  question  governed  his  action  ;  but  your 
position  was  different,  and,  besides,  General  Scott 
had  no  chance  for  the  nomination,  and  you  were 
under  no  obligation  to  support  him."  He  spoke 
in  kindly  terms  of  the  Free  Soil  men ;  said  they 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


acted  consistently  in  supporting  Van  Buren  in 
preference  to  Taylor,  and  that  the  election  of  the 
latter  would  prove  the  ruin  of  the  Whigs.  I  heard 
Mr.  Clay's  great  speech  in  the  Senate  on  the  Com- 
promise Measures,  and  although  I  believed  him  to 
be  radically  wrong,  I  felt  myself  at  times  drawn 
toward  him  by  that  peculiar  spell  which  years 
before  had  bound  me  to  him  as  my  idolized  polit- 
ical leader.  I  witnessed  his  principal  encounters 
with  Col.  Benton  during  this  session,  in  which  I 
thought  the  latter  had  the  better  of  the  argument ; 
but  his  reply  to  Mr.  Barnwell,  of  South  Carolina, 
on  July  22d,  in  which  he  said  :  "  I  owe  a  para- 
mount allegiance  to  the  whole  Union,  a  subordi- 
nate one  to  my  State,"  and  denounced  the  treasona- 
ble utterances  of  Mr.  Rhett,  was  altogether  inimita- 
ble and  unsurpassed.  In  the  same  speech  he  showed 
as  little  quarter  to  the  Abolitionists.  Turning  to 
Mr.  Hale,  he  said,  "  They  live  by  agitation.  It  is 
their  meat,  their  bread,  the  air  which  they  breathe; 
and  if  they  .aw  in  its  incipient  state,  a  measure  giv- 
ing them  more  of  that  food,  and  meat,  and  bread, 
and  air,  do  you  believe  they  would  oppose 
themselves  to  its  adoption  ?  Do  you  not  believe 
that  they  would  hail  [Hale]  it  as  a  blessing  ?  *  * 
*  They  see  their  doom  as  certain  as  there  is  a 
God  in  heaven,  who  sends  his  providential  dispen- 
sations to  calm  the  threatening  storm,  and  to  tran- 
quilize  agitated  man.  As  certain  as  God  exists  in 
heaven,  your  business,  your  vocation  is  gone." 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  85 

His  devotion  to  the  Union  was  his  ruling  passion, 
and  in  one  of  his  numerous  speeches  during 
this  session  he  held  up  a  fragment  of  Washington's 
coffin,  and  with  much  dramatic  effect  pleaded  for 
reconciliation  and  peace  between  the  warring  sec- 
tions. 

His  scheme  of  compromise,  or  "omnibus  bill,"  was 
the  darling  child  of  his  political  ambition  and  old 
age;  and  when,  after  lovingly  nursing  it  and  gallantly 
fighting  for  it  through  seven  or  eight  weary  months, 
he  saw  it  cruelly  dismembered  on  July  3ist,  and  his 
sovereign  remedy  for  our  national  troubles  insulted 
by  the  separate  passage  of  the  bill  providing  a 
Territorial  Government  for  Utah,  I  could  not  help 
feeling  a  profound  personal  sympathy  with  him. 
Beaten  at  last  at  every  point,  deserted  by  some 
senators  in  whom  he  had  trusted  implicitly,  crushed 
and  exhausted  by  labors  which  few  young  and 
vigorous  men  could  have  endured,  he  bowed  to  the 
inevitable,  and  retired  from  the  Senate  Chamber. 
But  the  next  morning,  prior  to  his  departure  for 
the  sea-shore,  he  was  in  his  seat ;  and  with  Light- 
ning in  his  eye,  and  figure  erect  as  ever,  he  paid 
his  respects  to  the  men  whose  work  of  political 
havoc  he  deplored.  His  impassioned  arraignment 
of  the  disunionists  was  loudly  applauded  by  the 
galleries,  and  clearly  indicated  the  part  he  would 
have  played  in  the  late  Rebellion  had  his  life  been 
spared  to  witness  that  direful  event.  "  So  long," 
said  he,  "  as  it  pleases  God  to  give  me  a  voice  to  ex- 


S (  POLITICAL  A V  i  <  > /  /  F.CT/ONS. 


press  my  sentiments,  or  an  arm,  weak  and  enfeebled 
as  it  may  be  by  age,  that  voice  and  that  arm  will 
be  on  the  side  of  my  country,  for  the  support  of 
the  general  authority,  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  powers  of  this  Union." 

I  heard  the  famous  "  Seventh  of  March  Speech" 
of  Mr.  Webster.  To  me  his  oratory  was  a  perfect 
surprise  and  curiosity.  He  not  only  spoke  with 
very  unusual  deliberation,  but  with  pauses  having 
no  relation  whatever  to  the  sense.  His  sentences 
were  broken  into  the  oddest  fragments,  and  the 
hearer  was  perplexed  in  the  endeavor  to  gather 
his  meaning.  In  declaring,  for  example,  that  he 
"  would  put  in  no  Wilmot  proviso  for  the  purpose 
of  a  taunt,"  etc.,  he  made  a  long  pause  at "  Wilmot," 
perhaps  a  half  minute,  and  finally,  having  appa- 
rently recovered  his  breath,  added  the  word  "  pro- 
viso "  ;  and  then,  after  another  considerable  pause, 
went  on  with  his  sentence.  His  speaking  seemed 
painfully  laborious.  Great  drops  of  perspiration 
stood  upon  his  forehead  and  face,  notwithstanding 
the  slowness  of  his  utterance,  suggesting,  as  a  pos- 
sible explanation,  a  very  recent  and  heavy  dinner, 
or  a  greatly  troubled  conscience  over  his  final  act 
of  apostasy  from  his  early  New  England  faith. 
The  latter  was  probably  the  truth,  since  he  is 
known  to  have  long  and  seriously  pondered  the 
question  of  his  ultimate  decision;  and  with  his 
naturally  great  and  noble  traits  of  character  he 
could  not  have  announced  it  without  manifest 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  87 

tokens  of  uneasiness.  I  was  greatly  interested  in 
the  brief  dialogue  between  him  and  Mr.  Calhoun, 
which  followed  this  speech.  Reference  was  made 
to  their  famous  passage-at-arms  twenty  years  be- 
fore ;  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  while  taking  exception  to 
some  of  Mr.  Webster's  positions,  congratulated  him 
on  his  strong  deliverance  in  the  interest  of  slavery. 
The  great  Carolinian  was  then  wrestling  with  the 
disease  which  soon  afterward  terminated  his  life, 
and  was  thin,  pale,  and  feeble  of  step ;  but  his  sin- 
gularly intellectual  face,  and  the  peculiar  light 
which  flashed  from  his  eye  while  speaking,  made 
him  the  most  strikingly  picturesque  figure  in  the 
Senate.  No  man  can  compute  the  evils  wrought 
by  his  political  theories  ;  but  in  private  life  he  was 
thoroughly  upright  and  pure,  and  no  suspicion  of 
political  jobbery  was  ever  whispered  in  connection 
with  his  name.  In  his  social  relations  he  was 
most  genial  and  kindly,  while  he  always  welcomed 
the  society  of  young  men  who  sought  the  aid  of 
his  friendly  counsel.  Politically,  he  has  been  sin- 
gularly misunderstood.  He  was  not.  as  has  been 
so  generally  thought,  a  disunionist.  He  was  the 
champion  of  State  Sovereignty,  but  he  believed 
that  this  was  the  sure  basis  and  bond  of  Union. 
He  thought  the  right  of  State  nullification,  if  recog- 
nized, would  hold  the  central  power  in  check,  and 
thus  cement  the  Union;  while  his  devotion  to  Afri- 
can slavery  as  a  defensible  form  of  society,  and  a 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS 


solution  of  the  conflict  between  capital  and  labor, 
was  doubtless  as  sincere  as  it  was  fanatical. 

During  the  first  months  of  this  session  my  spare 
time  was  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  a  speech  on 
the  slavery  question.  My  constituents  expected 
this,  and  so  did  my  anti-slavery  and  Free  Soil  friends 
generally.  It  was  my  darling  purpose,  and  I  re- 
solved to  do  my  best  upon  it.  I  not  only  meant 
that  they  should  not  be  ashamed  of  it,  but  that,  if 
possible,  it  should  stand  the  test  of  criticism,  both  as 
to  matter  and  diction.  I  re-examined  the  question 
in  its  various  aspects,  and  more  thoroughly  than  I 
had  been  able  to  do  before,  giving  special  attention 
to  the  speeches  of  Southern  members  in  both 
Houses,  and  carefully  noting  their  vulnerable 
points.  I  overhauled  the  question  of  "  Northern 
aggression  "  pretty  thoroughly,  and  endeavored  to 
expose  the  absurdity  of  that  complaint,  while 
crowding  into  my  task  such  facts  and  arguments 
as  would  help  educate  the  people  in  right  thinking. 
I  had  my  task  completed  in  March,  and  now  anx- 
iously waited  the  opportunity  for  its  delivery.  I 
was  very  curious  to  know  how  it  would  sound, 
and  what  would  be  thought  of  it,  while  my  consti- 
tutional self-distrust  made  me  dread  the  experi- 
ment unspeakably.  My  scuffle  for  the  floor  was  a 
sore  trial  of  patience,  and  it  was  not  until  the  four- 
teenth of  May  that  the  competitive  contest  was 
ended.  I  got  through  with  the  work  better  than  I 
anticipated,  was  handsomely  listened  to,  and  went 


THE   THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  89 

home  in  triumph.  A  great  burden  of  anxiety  had 
been  lifted,  while  I  received  letters  from  the  lead- 
ing Abolitionists  of  New  England  and  elsewhere, 
very  cordially  commending  the  speech,  which  was 
copied  into  the  principal  anti-slavery  newspapers, 
and  quite  favorably  noticed.  I  was  flattered  be- 
yond measure,  and  found  my  self-esteem  germi- 
nating into  new  life  under  these  fertilizing  dews. 


CHAPTER  V. 

REMINISCENCES    OF    THE    TH  IRTY-FIRST    CONGRESS 
(CONTINUED). 

Fracas  between  Col.  Benton  and  Senator  Foote  —  Character  of 
Benton  —  Death  of  Gen.  Taylor  —  The  funeral  —  Defeat  of  the 
"Omnibus  Bill  "  —  Its  triumph  in  detail  —  Celebration  of  the 
victory  —  "  Lower  law  "  sermons  and  "Union-saving"  meet- 
ings —  Slave-holding  literature  —  Mischievous  legislation  —  Visit 
to  Philadelphia  and  Boston  —  Futile  efforts  to  suppress  agita- 
tion —  Andrew  Johnson  and  the  homestead  law  —  Effort  to 
censure  Mr.  Webster  —  Political  morality  in  this  Congress  — 
Temperance  —  Jefferson  Davis  and  other  notable  men  —  John 
P.  Hale  —  Thaddeus  Stevens  —  Extracts  from  speeches  —  The 
famous  men  in  both  Houses  —  The  Free  Soilers  and  their  vin- 
dication. 


I  HAPPENED  to  be  in  the  Senate  on  April 
j'ust  before  the  memorable  fracas  between  Foote, 
of  Mississippi,  and  Col.  Benton.  They  had  had  an 
unfriendly  encounter  not  long  before,  and  it  was 
well  understood  that  Benton  had  made  up  his 
mind  that  Foote  should  not  henceforward  name 
him  or  allude  to  him  in  debate.  Foote  had  said  : 
"  I  do  not  denounce  him  as  a  coward  —  such  lan- 
guage is  unfitted  for  this  audience  —  but  if  he  wishes 
to  patch  up  his  reputation  for  courage,  now  greatly 
on  the  wane,  he  will  certainly  have  an  opportunity 
of  doing  so  whenever  he  makes  known  his  desire 
in  the  premises."  Benton  replied  :  "  Is  a  senator 
(90) 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  91 

to  be  blackguarded  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty, 
and  the  culprit  go  unpunished  ?     Is  language  to 
be  used  here  which  would  not  be  permitted  to  be 
used  in  the   lowest   pot-house,  tavern,  or   oyster 
cellar,  and  for  the  use  of  which  he  would  be  turned 
out  of  any  tavern  by  a  decent  landlord  ?  "     Ben- 
ton's  wrath  had  not  in  the  least  cooled  since  this 
altercation.     Foote  was  on  the  floor,  and  in  speak- 
ing of  the  late   "  Southern  address,"  referred  to 
Benton  in  terms  which  everybody  understood.     In 
an  indirect  way  he  became  more  and  more  personal 
as  he  proceeded.     Col.  Benton  finally  arose  from  . 
his  seat  with  every  appearance  of  intense  passion, 
and  with  a  quick  pace  moved  toward  Foote,  who 
was  addressing  the  Senate  from  his  desk  near  the 
main  aisle.    The  Vice  President  demanded  "order," 
and  several  senators  tried  to  hold  Benton  back, 
but  he  broke   loose  from   his  keepers,   and    was 
moving  rapidly  upon  his  foe.     When  he  saw  Ben- 
ton  nearing  him,  Foote  sprang  into  the  main  aisle, 
and  retreated  toward  the  Vice  President,  present- 
ing a  pistol  as  he  fled,  or,  as  he  afterward  expressed 
it,  "advanced  backward."     In  the  meantime  Ben- 
ton  had  been  so  obstructed  by  the  sergeant-at-arms 
and  others  that  Foote,  if  disposed  to  shoot,  could 
not  have  done  so  without  firing  through  the  crowd. 
But  Benton,  with  several  senators  hanging  to  him, 
now  proceeded   round  the  lobby  so  as  to  meet 
Foote  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  Chamber.     Tear- 
ing himself  away  from  those  who  sought  to  hold 
him,  and  throwing  open  his  bosom,  he  said :  "  Let 


92  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

him  shoot  me !  The  cowardly  assassin  has  come 
here  to  shoot  me;  let  him  shoot  me  if  he  dares!  I 
never  carry  arms,  and  he  knows  it;  let  the  assassin 
fire!"  He  was  an  embodied  fury,  and  raged  and 
raved,  the  helpless  victim  of  his  passions.  I  had 
never  seen  such  an  uproar  in  a  legislative  body  ; 
but  the  sergeant-at-arms  at  last  restored  order, 
when  Mr.  Clay  suggested  that  both  parties  should 
voluntarily  enter  into  bonds  to  keep  the  peace, 
upon  which  Bcnton  instantly  rose  and  said  :  "  I'll 
rot  in  jail,  sir,  before  I  will  do  it !  No,  sir  !  I'll  rot 
in  jail  first  I'll  rot,  sir!  "  and  he  poured  forth  a 
fresh  torrent  of  bitter  words  upon  the  man  who 
was  then  so  well  known  throughout  the  Northern 
States  as  "Hangman  Foote."*  Benton  was  not 
only  a  man  of  tremendous  passions,  but  unrivaled 
as  a  hater.  Nor  did  his  hatred  spend  itself  entirely 
upon  injustice  and  meanness.  It  was  largely  person- 
al and  unreasoning.  He  was  pre-eminently  unfor- 
giving. He  hated  Calhoun  with  a  real  vengeance, 
styling  him  "John  Cataline  Calhoun,"  and  brand- 
ing him  as  a  "  coward  cur  that  sneaked  to  his  ken- 
nel when  the  Master  of  the  Hermitage  blew  his 
bugle  horn."  He  seemed  to  relent  a  little,  how- 
ever, when  he  saw  the  life  of  the  great  Carolinian 
rapidly  ebbing  away,  and  on  one  occasion  declared 
that,  "  When  God  lays  his  hand  on  a  man,  I  take 

*  So  named  because  of  bis  declaration  in  the  Senate  the  year 
before,  that  if  John  P.  Hale  would  come  to  Mississippi  he  would 
be  bung  to  •'  one  of  the  tallest  trees  of  the  forest,"  and  that  he 
(Foote)  would  himself  "  assist  in  the  operation." 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  93 

mine  off."  His  wit  was  sometimes  as  pungent  as 
his  invective.  In  his  famous  speech  on  the  Com- 
promise measures,  he  gave  Mr.  Clay  a  telling  hit 
by  comparing  the  boasted  panacea  of  his  "  Omni- 
bus Bill,"  or  "  five  old  bills  tacked  together,"  to 
"  old  Dr.  Jacob  Townsend's  sarsaparilla,"  and  con- 
trasting it  with  the  alleged  worthlessness  of  the 
same  measures  when  separately  proposed,  which 
he  likened  to  "young  Dr.  Samuel  Townsend's" 
extract  from  the  same  vegetable.  "  Sarsaparilla  " 
was  thus  more  widely  advertised  than  ever  before, 
but  it  aided  the  triumph  of  the  "  young  Dr.,"  and 
the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay's  pet  scheme. 

The  sudden  death  of  Gen.  Taylor,  July  9,  1850, 
produced  a  very  profound  impression.  The  shock, 
to  the  people  of  the  Northern  States  was  felt  the 
more  keenly  because  of  the  peculiarly  threatening 
aspect  of  public  affairs,  and  of,  the  unexpectedly 
manly  course  of  the  President  in  withstanding  the 
imperious  and  insolent  demands  of  the  extreme 
men  of  his  own  section.  Millard  Fillmore  then 
stood  well  before  the  country,  and  was  quite  as 
emphatically  committed  to  the  growing  anti-slavery 
sentiment  of  the  Free  States  as  Gov.  Seward  himself; 
but  he  was  now  to  be  severely  tried,  and  no  one 
could  tell  whether  he  would  be  true  to  the  policy 
of  his  predecessor  in  resisting  the  ultra  demands  of 
the  South,  or  repeat  the  perfidy  of  John  Tyler  by 
flagrantly  turning  his  back  on  his  past  life.  For 
the  time,  however,  the  national  bereavement  seemed 
too  absorbing  for  any  political  speculations.  The 


94  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

funeral  pageant,  which  took  place  on  the  1 3th,  was 
very  imposing.  The  funeral' car  was  a  long- 
coupled  running  gear,  with  wheels  carved  from 
solid  blocks  ot  wood.  Over  this  was  raised  a 
canopy  covered  with  broadcloth,  and  surmounted 
by  a  magnificent  eagle.  Curtains  of  black  and 
white  silk  in  alternating  festoons  hung  from  the 
canopy,  with  rosettes,  fringes,  and  tassels.  The 
car  was  drawn  by  eight  white  horses,  richly  capar- 
isoned, and  led  by  as  many  grooms,  who  were  all 
white  men.  "  Old  Whitey,"  the  venerable  war 
steed  of  the  President,  followed  immediately  behind 
the  remains  of  his  master,  and  attracted  universal 
attention.  The  procession  was  accompanied  by  the 
tolling  of  bells,  the  firing  of  heavy  ordnance,  and 
plaintive  strains  of  music ;  and  the  whole  affair  ex- 
ceeded anything  of  the  kind  that  had  ever  taken 
place  in  Washington,  although  the  outpouring  of 
people  would  bear  no  comparison  with  that  of 
several  notable  funerals  of  later  years. 

The  dreadful  heat  of  the  summer  months,  and 
the  monotonous  "  ding-dong"  of  the  debate  on  the 
Compromise  measures,  made  life  dreary  enough. 
The  "  rump-session,"  as  it  was  then  called,  became 
more  and  more  dismal  as  it  dragged  its  slow  length 
into  the  fall  months.  Members  grew  pale  and  thin, 
and  sighed  for  their  homes;  but  the  Congressional 
mill  had  to  be  kept  running  till  the  grists  of  the 
slave-power  could  be  got  fully  ready  for  the  hop- 
per, and  ground  in  their  regular  order.  Mr.  Clay's 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  95 

Omnibus  Bill  having  gone  to  pieces,  the  "five 
gaping  wounds  "  of  the  country,  about  which  he 
had  talked  so  eloquently,  called  for  treatment  in 
detail ;  and  by  far  the  most  threatening  of  these 
was  the  dispute  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico. 
The  remedy  was  the  Texas  Boundary  Bill,  which 
surrendered  a  large  belt  of  country  to  Texas  and 
slavery,  and  gave  her  ten  million  dollars  besides. 
It  was  vehemently  opposed  in  the  House,  and  its 
fate  seemed  to  hang  in  doubt  up  to  the  final  vote 
upon  it;  but  its  passage  was  really  assured  from  the 
beginning  by  the  corrupt  appliances  of  its  friends. 
Texas  bonds,  which  were  then  worth  ten  cents  on 
the  dollar,  would  be  lifted  nearly  to  par  by  this 
measure,  and  its  success  was  undoubtedly  secured 
by  the  bribery  of  members.  The  territorial  ques- 
tion was  disposed  of  by  the  legislative  covenant  that 
new  States  might  be  admitted  from  our  Mexican 
acquisitions,  either  with  or  without  slavery,  as  their 
people  might  determine.  This  was  not  only  an 
open  abandonment  of  the  Wilmot  proviso,  but  a 
legislative  condemnation  of  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise line,  as  a  violation  of  the  principle  of  "popu- 
lar sovereignty,"  and  was  sure  to  breed  the  mis- 
chiefs which  followed  four  years  later.  But  of  the 
several  compromise  or  "healing  measures"  of  this 
session,  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  was  by  far  the  most 
atrocious.  It  made  the  ex  parte  interested  oath  of 
the  slave-hunter  final  and  conclusive  evidence  of 
the  fact  of  escape,  and  of  the  identity  of  the  party 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


pursued,  while  the  simplest  duties  of  humanity  were 
punished  as  felonies  by  fine  and  imprisonment. 
The  method  of  its  enactment  perfectly  accorded 
with  its  character.  It  was  reached  on  the  Speaker's 
table  on  September  I2th,  and  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Thompson,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  served  as  the 
parliamentary  hangman  of  his  employers,  the  pre- 
vious question  was  seconded  on  its  passage ;  and 
thus,  without  reference  to  any  committee,  without 
even  being  printed,  and  with  no  opportunity  what- 
ever for  debate,  it  became  a  law.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  these  pretended  measures  of  final  adjust- 
ment paved  the  way  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
restriction,  the  bloody  raid  into  Kansas,  the  Drcd 
Scott  decision,  and  the  final  chapter  of  the  Civil 
War;  while  they  completely  vindicated  the  little 
party  of  Independents  in  this  Congress  in  standing 
aloof  from  the  Whig  and  Democratic  organizations, 
and  warning  the  country  against  further  submission 
to  their  rule.  One  hundred  guns  were  fired  in 
Washington  over  the  final  triumph  of  slavery  in 
this  memorable  struggle  ;  and  Congress  adjourned, 
at  last,  on  September  3Oth,  the  session  having 
lasted  nearly  ten  months,  and  being  considerably 
the  longest  thus  far  since  the  formation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  adjournment  was  followed  by  great  "  Union- 
saving  "  meetings  throughout  the  country,  which 
denounced  "abolitionism  "  in  the  severest  terms, 
and  endorsed  the  action  of  Congress.  Multitudes 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  97 

of  "  lower  law  "  sermons  by  conservative  Doctors 
of  Divinity  were  scattered  over  the  Northern  States 
through  the  mails,  and  a  regular  system  of  agita- 
tion to  suppress  agitation  was  inaugurated.  The 
sickly  air  of  compromise  filled  the  land,  and  for  a 
time  the  deluded  masses  were  made  to  believe  that 
the  Free  Soilers  had  brought  the  country  to  the 
verge  of  ruin.  Both  clergy  and  laity  zealously 
dedicated  themselves  to  the  great  work  of  sectional 
pacification.  The  labors  of  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams 
and  Dr.  Lord  in  this  direction  will  not  be  forgotten. 
The  Rev.  Moses  Stuart,  of  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  in  a  work  in  the  interest  of  peace,  spoke 
of  the  "blessings  and  comforts"  of  slavery,  and  de- 
clared that  "  Christ  doubtless  felt  that  slavery 
might  be  made  a  very  tolerable  condition — aye, 
even  a  blessing — to  such  as  were  shiftless  and  help- 
less." Another  book,  entitled  "Aunt  Phillis's 
Cabin  ;  or  Southern  Life  as  it  is,"  was  issued  from 
the  press,  in  which  it  was  said  that  slavery  was 
"authorized  by  God,  permitted  by  Jesus  Christ, 
sanctioned  by  the  Apostles,  and  maintained  by 
good  men  in  all  ages."  A  very  remarkable  book 
made  its  appearance,  entitled,  "  A  Choice  of  Evils  ; 
or  Thirteen  Years  in  the  South.  By  a  Northern 
man."  Its  author  was  a  Mr.  Hooker,  of  Philadel- 
phia. In  this  work  he  announced  the  discovery  that 
slavery  is  not  only  an  unspeakable  blessing,  but  a 
great  "  missionary  institution  for  the  conversion  of 
the  heathen."  One  of  the  chapters  of  this  book  is 
1 


98  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

on  "  The  Pleasures  of  Slavery."  He  declared  that 
the  Southern  slave  is  not  merely  contented,  but  a 
"  joyous  fellow  " ;  and  that  "  in  willing  and  faithful 
subjection  to  a  benignant  and  protecting  power, 
and  that  visible  to  his  senses,  he  leans  upon  it  in 
complete  and  sure  confidence,  as  a  trusting  child 
holds  on  to  the  hand  of  his  Father,  and  passes  joy- 
ously along  the  thronged  and  jostling  way,  where 
he  would  not  dare  to  be  left  alone."  Mr.  Hooker 
declared  that  "  his  are  the  thoughts  that  make  glad 
the  cared-for  child,  led  by  paternal  hand  "  ;  and 
that  "  of  all  people  in  the  world,  the  pleasures  of 
the  Southern  slaves  seem,  as  they  really  are,  most 
unalloyed."  The  press  teemed  with  kindred  pub- 
lications, while  "Graham's  Magazine,"  Harper's 
"Journal  of  Civilization,"  the  "Literary  World," 
"  Godey's  Ladies'  Book,"  and  other  periodicals, 
joined  in  the  united  effort  to  shout  the  anti-slavery 
agitation  into  silence. 

During  this  session  some  laws  were  passed  hav- 
ing no  connection  with  the  slavery  question,  which 
were  pregnant  with  very  great  mischief,  and  have 
only  yielded  up  their  meaning  as  they  have  been 
practically  applied  and  extended.  The  act  of  Sep- 
tember 28th,  granting  land  bounties  to  the  soldiers 
of  the  Mexican  war,  opened  the  way  for  the  monop- 
oly of  many  millions  of  acres  of  the  public  domain 
by  sharks  and  speculators,  while  proving  a  wretched 
mockery  of  the  just  claims  of  the  men  in  whose 
name  it  was  urged.  The  Swamp  Land  Act  of  the 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  99 

same  date,  owing  to  its  loose  and  unguarded  provis- 
ions and  shameful  mal-administration,  has  been 
still  more  fruitful  of  wide-spread  spoliation  and 
plunder.  The  act  of  September  2Oth,  granting 
alternate  sections  of  land  in  aid  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railway,  inaugurated  our  famous  land- grant 
policy,  which,  becoming  more  and  more  reckless 
and  improvident  in  its  exactions,  and  cunningly 
combining  the  power  of  great  corporations  with 
vast  monopolies  of  the  public  domain,  has  signally 
eclipsed  all  other  schemes  of  commercial  feudalism, 
and  left  to  coming  generations  a  problem  involv- 
ing the  very  life  of  our  popular  institutions.  The 
fruits  of  this  legislation  were  not  foreseen  at  the 
time,  but  the  legislation  itself  fitly  belongs  to  the 
extraordinary  work  of  this  Congress. 

The  events  of  this  session  formed  a  new  bond 
of  union  among  anti-slavery  men  everywhere, 
and  naturally  strengthened  the  wish  I  had  long 
cherished  to  meet  some  of  the  famous  people  with 
whose  names  I  had  been  most  familiar.  Accord- 
ingly,! paid  a  visit  to  James  and  Lucretia  Mott  in 
Philadelphia,  which  I  greatly  enjoyed,  meeting 
there  Dr.  Elder,  J.  Miller  McKim,  Dr.  Furness* 
and  other  well  known  friends  of  freedom.  Oddly 
enough,  I  was  invited  to  dine  with  Judge  Kane, 
then  conspicuous  through  his  remarkable  rulings  in 
fugitive  slave  cases,  and  I  found  his  manners  and  hos- 
pitality as  charming  as  his  opinions  about  slavery 
were  detestable.  From  Philadelphia  I  went  to  Bos- 


100  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

ton,  and  attended  the  Free  Soil  State  Convention 
which  met  there  early  in  October,  1850,  where  Sum- 
ner  and  Burlingame  were  the  principal  speakers. 
The  latter  was  extremely  boyish  in  appearance,  but 
was  counted  a  marvel  in  native  eloquence.  Mr. 
Sumncr  was  then  comparatively  a  young  man, 
apparently  somewhat  fastidious,  with  a  winning 
face,  commanding  figure,  and  a  voice  singularly 
musical.  At  this  time  he  was  only  famous  through 
his  orations,  and  I  think  knew  relatively  little  of 
American  life  and  society  outside  of  Boston  and 
his  books.  He  told  me  he  had  recently  been  lect- 
uring at  several  points  out  of  the  city,  and  had 
been  delighted  to  find  the  people  so  intelligent 
and  so  capable  of  understanding  him.  He  seemed 
much  surprised  when  I  told  him  how  many  admir- 
ers he  had  in  Indiana,  and  I  found  that  others 
shared  his  unflattering  impressions  respecting  the 
general  intelligence  of  the  West.  At  this  conven- 
tion I  met  Dr.  Palfrey,  then  actively  interested  in 
anti-slavery  politics,  and  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
the  Free  Soil  nominee  for  Vice  President  in  1848, 
with  whom  I  dined  at  the  old  Adams  mansion  in 
Quincy  a  few  days  later.  I  enjoyed  the  honor  of  a 
call  from  Theodore  Parker  while  in  the  city,  but 
failed  to  meet  Mr.  Garrison,  who  was  absent.  At 
the  "  Liberator  "  office,  however,  I  met  Stephen  S. 
Foster,  who  entertained  me  with  his  views  on 
"non-resistance."  I  attended  a  spirited  anti -fugi- 
tive-slave-law meeting  in  Lynn,  where  I  first  met 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS. 


Wendell  Phillips,  and  enjoyed  the  long-coveted 
pleasure  of  hearing  him  speak.  The  music  of  his 
voice  so  charmed  me  that  I  became  completely  his 
captive.  From  Boston  I  went  to  Worcester,  and 
after  a  delightful  visit  with  my  excellent  friend, 
Judge  Allen,  returned  to  my  home  in  the  West. 

After  a  vacation  of  two  months,  the  work  of  the 
Thirty-first  Congress  was  resumed  at  the  opening 
of  its  second  session.  Members  returned  so  re- 
freshed and  invigorated  that  they  did  not  appear 
like  the  same  men.  All  parties  seemed  more 
friendly,  but  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question 
had  not  been  suppressed.  Thousands  of  fugitive 
slaves  had  fled  to  Canada  or  to  remote  sections  of 
the  Northern  States,  through  the  fear  of  recapture 
under  the  harsh  features  of  the  new  Fugitive  Slave 
Act.  The  method  of  enforcing  it  in  different 
States,  involving  the  intervention  of  the  army  and 
navy,  had  stirred  the  blood  of  thousands  who  had 
else  remained  unmoved  by  the  slavery  issue.  The 
effort  of  the  National  Government  to  make  the 
harboring  of  a  fugitive  constructive  treason,  was 
the  farthest  thing  possible  from  a  peace-offering  to 
the  Abolitionists,  but  the  friends  of  the  Compro- 
mise measures  failed  to  see  that  their  scheme  had 
proved  entirely  abortive,  and  made  one  further 
effort  to  silence  the  voice  of  humanity.  They 
entered  into  a  solemn  compact  in  writing  to  sup- 
port no  man  for  President  or  Vice  President  of  the 
United  States,  or  for  senator  or  representative  in 


IO2  POUT1CAL  KECOLLECT1ONS. 

Congress,  or  member  of  a  State  legislature,  who 
was  not  known  to  be  opposed  to  disturbing  their 
"  final  settlement  "  of  the  slavery  question.  The 
signature  of  Henry  Clay  was  the  first  on  this  docu- 
ment, and  was  followed  by  those  of  various  promi- 
nent men  of  the  free  and  slave  States,  and  of  differ- 
ent political  parties.  But  the  extreme  men  of  the 
South  and  most  of  the  moderate  men  of  the  North 
refused  to  assume  this  obligation,  while  the  Free 
Soilers  felt  perfectly  sure  that  their  cause  would  be 
advanced  by  the  very  measures  which  had  been 
taken  to  defeat  it  In  this  they  were  not  mistaken. 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  born  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Act,  was  then  making  its  first  appearance  in  weekly 
numbers  of  Dr.  Bailey's  "  National  Era."  Hil- 
drcth's  "White  Slave"  and  Sumner's  "White 
Slavery  in  the  Barbary  States"  were  widely  circu- 
lated, and  exerted  a  powerful  influence.  The 
writings  of  Judge  Jay  and  William  Goodell  on 
the  slavery  question  found  more  readers  than  ever 
before,  while  the  pro-slavery  literature  and  "  soutli 
side "  theology,  already  referred  to,  called  forth 
replies  from  various  writers,  and  contributed  largely 
to  the  general  ferment  which  the  friends  of  the 
Compromise  measures  were  so  anxious  to  tranquil- 
izc.  Indeed,  while  the  champions  of  slavery  were 
exerting  themselves  as  never  before  to  stifle  the 
anti-slavery  spirit  of  the  free  States,  the  Abolition- 
ists were  delighted  with  the  tokens  of  progress 
which  everywhere  saluted  their  vision  and  ani- 
mated them  with  new  courage  and  hope. 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  103 

It  was  early  in  the  first  session  of  this  Congress 
that  several  members  of  the  House  introduced 
bills  providing  homesteads  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  each  to  actual  landless  settlers,  with- 
out cost,  on  prescribed  conditions  of  occupancy 
and  improvement.  The  first  of  these  bills  in  the 
order  of  time  was  that  of  Andrew  Johnson,  which 
was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Agriculture,  and 
subsequently  reported  favorably,  and  debated  at 
different  times.  Similar  propositions  were  offered 
in  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Webster,  and  by  Senator 
Walker,  of  Wisconsin.  The  fact  is  also  worthy  of 
note,  that  Horace  Greeley,  during  his  short  term 
of  service  in  the  previous  Congress,  had  offered  a 
bill  giving  to  landless  men  the  right  to  pre-empt 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  for  seven  years,  and, 
on  condition  of  occupancy  and  improvement,  the 
"  right  of  unlimited  occupancy  "  to  forty  acres  of 
the  same,  without  price,  by  a  single  man,  or  eighty 
acres  by  the  married  head  of  a  family.  But  the 
legislative  initiation  of  the  Homestead  law,  sub- 
stantially as  we  now  have  it,  belongs  to  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  the  Thirty-first  Congress,  and 
its  policy  was  borrowed  from  the  Free  Soil  plat- 
form of  1848  and  the  Land  Reformers  of  New  York. 
This  measure  completely  reversed  the  early  policy 
of  the  Government,  when  settlers  on  the  public 
lands  were  dealt  with  as  trespassers,  while  its  tri- 
umph, years  afterward,  marked  an  epoch  in  our 
legislation,  and  has  done  more  to  make  the  Ameri- 


•     ;  ITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

can  name  honored  and  loved  at  home  and  abroad 
than  any  single  enactment  since  the  year  1789. 
Having  earnestly  espoused  this  policy  years  before, 
I  sought  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Johnson  for  the 
purpose  of  co-operating  with  him  in  urging  it, 
and  found  him  its  sincere  friend.  Although  loyal 
to  his  party,  he  seemed  to  have  little  sympathy 
with  the  extreme  men  among  its  leaders,  and  no 
unfriendliness  to  me  on  account  of  my  decided 
anti-slavery  opinions.  When  my  homestead  speech 
was  ready  for  delivery,  he  was  anxious  that  I 
should  be  recognized,  although  the  slave-holders 
hated  its  doctrines  as  heartily  as  they  hated 
"  abolitionism "  itself,  and  it  was  through  his 
friendly  tactics  that  I  finally  obtained  the  floor,  in 
opposition  to  the  earnest  wish  and  determined 
purpose  of  Speaker  Cobb. 

Near  the  close  of  this  session,  at  the  instance 
of  Charles  Allen,  of  Massachusetts,  a  man  of  real 
ability  and  stainless  life,  a  preamble  and  resolutions 
were  offered  by  myself  calling  for  a  committee  to 
inquire  into  the  alleged  corrupt  conduct  of  Daniel 
Webster  in  accepting  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State  as  the  stipendiary  of  Eastern  capitalists. 
On  the  motion  to  suspend  the  rules  to  allow  this 
to  be  done,  the  yeas  were  only  thirty-five ;  but  this 
vote  was  quite  as  large  as  could  have  been  expected, 
considering  the  excellent  standing  of  Mr.  Webster 
at  that  time  with  the  pro-slavery  sentiment  of  the 
country.  I  think  it  is  not  doubted  that,  being 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  105 

then  poor,  he  accepted  office,  as  he  had  done  be- 
fore, on  condition  of  pecuniary  indemnity  by  his 
rich  friends  in  Wall  street  and  State  street;  but  in 
the  light  of  the  far  greater  immoralities  and  profli- 
gacies of  later  times,  it  now  seems  a  relatively 
small  matter. 

Political  moralky  was  at  a  very  low  ebb  during 
the  period  covered  by  the  Thirty-first  Congress. 
The  Whigs,  now  that  they  were  in  power,  saw 
nothing  amiss  in  the  spoils  system  inaugurated  by 
Gen.  Jackson,  which  was  in  full  blast.  The  Presi- 
dent had  declared  that  he  had  "  no  friends  to  reward 
and  no  enemies  to  punish,"  but  under  the  party 
pressure  he  totally  lost  sight  of  these  words,  and 
seemed  almost  as  powerless  to  withstand  it  as  did 
Gen.  Grant  in  later  years.  Thousands  of  officials 
were  turned  adrift  for  no  other  than  party  reasons, 
while  political  nepotism  was  the  order  of  the  day. 
Under  the  brief  administration  of  Gen.  Taylor,  un- 
precedented political  jobbery  prevailed,  both  in  the 
legislative  and  executive  departments  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  these  evils  seemed  to  be  aggravated  by 
the  accession  of  Mr.  Fillmore,and  to  gather  strength 
as  the  spirit  of  liberty  declined.  Nor  was  the  per- 
sonal morality  of  members  more  to  be  commended 
than  their  political.  The  vice  of  intemperance  was 
not,  as  now,  restricted  to  a  few  exceptional  cases, 
but  was  fearfully  prevalent.  A  glass  of  wine  could 
sometimes  be  seen  on  the  desk  of  a  senator  while 
engaged  in  debate,  and  the  free  use  of  intoxicating 


106  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

drinks  by  senators  was  too  common  to  provoke 
remark.  It  was  still  more  common  in  the  House; 
and  the  scenes  of  drunkenness  and  disorder  in  that 
body  on  the  last  night  of  the  last  session  beggared 
description.  Much  of  the  most  important  legisla- 
tion of  the  session,  involving  the  expenditure  of 
many  millions,  remained  to  be  disposed  of  at 
that  sitting;  and,  as  a  preparation  for  the  work, 
a  large  supply  of  whisky  had  been  deposited 
in  a  room  immediately  connected  with  the 
Hall  of  Representatives,  which  was  thronged 
by  members  at  all  hours  of  the  night.  The 
chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee 
became  so  exhilarated  that  he  had  to  be  retired 
from  his  post;  and  some  of  his  brethren,  who  had 
been  calling  him  to  order  in  a  most  disorderly 
manner,  were  quite  as  incapable  of  business  as  him- 
self, while  order  had  sought  her  worshipers  else- 
where. The  exhibition  was  most  humiliating,  but 
it  now  pleasantly  reminds  us  of  the  wonderful 
changes  which  have  been  wrought  by  thirty  years. 
In  this  Congress,  the  men  who  afterward  became 
the  chief  leaders  of  the  Rebellion  were  conspicuous, 
and  foreshadowed  their  future  course.  Jefferson 
Davis  had  a  military  and  magisterial  look.  His 
estimate  of  himself  was  so  exalted  that  his  ordinary 
demeanor  toward  others  seemed  like  a  personal 
condescension,  if  not  an  insinuation  of  contempt. 
One  of  the  most  striking  personalities  in  the  Senate 
was  A.  P.  Butler,  the  colleague  of  Mr.  Calhoun, 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  io/ 

and  uncle  of  Preston  S.  Brooks,  of  infamous  mem- 
ory. His  robust  physique,  florid  complexion, 
sparkling  eye,  heavy  bushy  suit  of  snow-white  hair, 
and  a  certain  indefinable  expression  of  mischievous 
audacity,  made  him  a  very  attractive  figure.  In  his 
eulogy  upon  Calhoun  he  marred  the  solemnity  of 
the  occasion  by  pronouncing  the  word  "  always"  as 
if  written  "  allers,"  and  by  kindred  evidences  of 
"life  among  the  lowly."  The  wit  of  John  P.  Hale 
was  effective  and  unfailing,  and  gave  him  a  decided 
advantage  over  Mr.  Chase,  who  had  nothing  but 
his  dignity  and  power  of  argument  with  which  to 
confront  the  tremendous  odds  against  him.  This 
was  happily  illustrated  early  in  the  first  session  of 
this  Congress,  in  his  reply  to  Mr.  Clemens,  of 
Alabama,  who,  in  a  furious  tirade  against  the  Abo- 
litionists, had  pronounced  the  Union  dissolved 
already.  "  There  are  many  timid  people  at  the 
North,"  said  Hale,  "  who  have  looked  forward  with 
excited  nerves  and  trembling  fears  at  the  '  wreck 
of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds  '  which  they 
believed  would  be  the  result  of  the  dissolution  of 
this  Union.  I  think  they  will  be  exceedingly 
quiet  now,  when  they  find  it  has  already  taken 
place  and  they  did  not  know  it,  for  the  honorable 
senator  from  Alabama  tells  us  it  is  already  dis- 
solved: If  it  is  not  a  matter  too  serious  for  a  pleas- 
ant illustration,  let  me  give  you  one.  Once  in  my 
life,  in  the  capacity  of  a  justice  of  the  peace — for  I 
held  that  office  before  I  was  a  senator — I  was 


108  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

called  on  to  officiate  in  uniting  a  couple  in  the 
bonds  of  matrimony.  They  came  up,  and  I  made 
•hort  work  of  it  I  asked  the  man  if  he  would  take 
the  woman  whom  he  held  by  the  hand  to  be  his 
wedded  wife ;  he  replied, '  To  be  sure  I  will,  I  came 
here  to  do  that  very  thing.'  I  then  put  the  ques- 
tion to  the  lady,  whether  she  would  have  the  man 
for  her  husband.  And  when  she  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  I  told  them  they  were  man  and  wife. 
She  looked  up  with  apparent  astonishment,  and 
inquired  '  Is  that  all?1  '  Yes,'  I  said,  '  that  is  all.' 
*  Well,'  said  she,  '  it  is  not  such  a  mighty  affair  as 
I  expected  it  to  be,  after  all.' " 

Some  of  the  finest  of  Mr.  Seward's  speeches 
were  delivered  during  the  first  session  of  this  Con- 
gress, but  in  the  same  husky  voice  which  marked 
his  later  efforts.  Decidedly  the  finest  looking  man 
in  the  Senate  was  General  Shields,  of  Illinois,  then 
in  his  prime,  and  crowned  with  the  laurels  he  had 
won  in  the  Mexican  War.  The  appearance  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  familiarly  known  as  the  "little  giant," 
was  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of  his  colleague. 
He  cared  nothing  about  dignity  and  refinement, 
and  had  a  slovenly  and  "  unwashed  "  appearance. 
The  towering  and  erect  form  of  General  Houston 
always  commanded  attention  in  the  Senate,  and  he 
added  to  his  attractiveness  by  wearing  an  old- 
fashioned  knit  cap,  and  always  devoting  a  portion 
of  his  time  to  whittling  a  pine  board.  The  most 
fascinating  member  of  the  Senate  was  Soule,  of 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  109 

Louisiana.  There  was  a  tropical  charm  about  his 
oratory,  which  was  heightened  by  his  foreign  ac- 
cent and  his  singularly  striking  presence  and 
physiognomy.  Winthrop  was  the  most  accom- 
plished gentleman  in  the  House.  Edward  D.  Ba- 
ker, since  so  famous,  was  a  member  from  Illinois, 
but  made  no  mark.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  looked 
like  a  corpse,  but  his  clear  and  ringing  voice  al- 
ways commanded  attention,  and  his  words  went 
directly  to  the  mark.  Toombs  was  recognized  as 
a  leader  of  Southern  opinion,  but  disfigured  his 
speeches  by  his  swagger  and  defiance.  Among 
the  notable  men  from  the  Northern  States,  Hanni- 
bal Hamlin,  lately  retired  from  public  life,  was  in 
the  Senate.  He  was  then  a  young  man,  erect,  fine 
looking,  a  thorough  Democrat,  but  not  the  tool  of 
slavery.  Thaddeus  Stevens  was  in  the  House,  and 
just  at  the  beginning  of  his  remarkable  congres- 
sional life ;  but  the  slave  power,  then  in  the  full 
sweep  of  its  despotism,  took  good  care  to  keep 
him  in  the  background  in  the  organization  of  the 
committees.  He  made  several  speeches,  in  which 
he  displayed  his  rare  powers  of  invective,  irony( 
and  sarcasm,  in  dealing  with  the  Southern  lead- 
ers ;  and  no  one  who  listened  to  his  speech  of  Feb. 
20,  1850,  could  ever  forget  his  withering  reply  to 
Mr.  Mead,  of  Virginia,  who  had  argued  against  the 
prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  because  it 
would  conflict  with  the  interests  of  Virginia  as  a 
breeder  of  slaves.  I  quote  the  following: 


I  10  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


us  pause  a  moment  over  this  humiliating 
confession.  In  plain  English,  what  does  it  mean? 
That  Virginia  is  now  only  fit  to  be  the  breeder,  not 
the  employer,  of  slaves  !  That  she  is  reduced  to 
the  condition  that  her  proud  chivalry  are  compelled 
to  turn  slave-traders  for  a  livelihood!  Instead 
of  attempting  to  renovate  the  soil,  and  by  their 
own  honest  labor  compelling  the  earth  to  yield  her 
abundance;  instead  of  seeking  for  the  best  breed 
of  cattle  and  horses  to  feed  on  her  hills  and  val- 
leys, and  fertilize  the  land,  the  sons  of  that  great 
State  must  devote  their  time  to  selecting  and  groom- 
ing the  most  lusty  sires  and  the  most  fruitful 
wenches,  to  supply  the  slave,  barracoons  of  the 
South!  And  the  learned  gentleman  pathetically 
laments  that  the  profits  of  this  genteel  traffic  will 
be  greatly  lessened  by  the  circumscription  of  slav- 
ery! This  is  his  picture,  not  mine."  , 

Mr.  Stevens  was  equally  merciless  in  dealing 
with  the  tribe  of  "  dough-faces."  This  was  illus- 
trated in  a  speech  later  in  the  session,  in  which  he 
alluded  to  his  colleague  from  Bucks  County, 
Mr.  Ross,  who  had  attacked  him  in  a  violent  pro- 
slavery  harangue  : 

"  There  is,"  said  Mr.  Stevens,  "  in  the  natural 
world,  a  little,  spotted,  contemptible  animal,  which 
is  armed  by  nature  with  a  fetid,  volatile,  penetrat- 
ing virus,  which  so  pollutes  whoever  attacks  it  as 
to  make  him  offensive  to  himself  and  all  around 
him  for  a  long  time.  Indeed,  he  is  almost  incapa- 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  \\\ 

ble  of  purification.  Nothing,  sir,  no  insult,  shall 
provoke  me  to  crush  so  filthy  a  beast."  As  these 
words  were  being  uttered,  Mr.  Ross  was  seen  pre- 
cipitately making  his  way  out  of  the  hall  under 
this  return  fire  of  his  foe.  But  Mr.  Stevens  then 
gave  no  clear  promise  of  the  wonderful  career  as  a 
parliamentary  leader  which  awaited  him  in  later 
years,  when  perfectly  unshackled  by  the  power 
that  at  first  held  him  in  check. 

The  Thirty-first  Congress  was  not  alone  remark- 
able for  the  great  questions  it  confronted  and  its 
shameless  recreancy  to  humanity  and  justice;  it 
was  equally  remarkable  for  its  able  and  eminent 
men.  In  the  Senate,  the  great  triumvirate  of 
Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun,  appeared  in  public 
life  for  the  last  time.  With  them  were  associated 
Benton,  Cass,  Douglas,  Seward,  Chase,  Bell, 
Berrien,  Soule,  Davis  of  Mississippi,  Dayton,  Hale, 
Ewing,  Corwin,  Hamlin,  Butler,  Houston,  and 
Mason.  In  the  House  were  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
Winthrop,  Ashmun,  Allen,  Cobb  of  Georgia, 
McDowell,  Giddings,  Preston  King,  Horace  Mann, 
Marshall,  Orr,  Schenck,  Stanley,  Toombs,  Alexan- 
der H.  Stephens,  and  Vinton.  If  mere  talent  could 
have  supplemented  the  lack  of  conscience,  the 
slave  power  might  have  been  overborne  in  1850, 
and  the  current  of  American  history  turned  into 
the  channels  of  liberty  and  peace.  But  the  better 
days  of  the  Republic,  when  high  integrity  and  un- 
selfish devotion  to  the  country  inspired  our  states- 


112  /'i >/-  /y/tVfZ.  RECOLLECTIONS. 

men,  were  past,  and  we  had  entered  upon  the  era 
of  mean  ambitions  and  huckstering  politics.  "The 
bulk  of  the  nation,"  as  Harriet  Martincau  said,  a 
little  later,  "  was  below  its  institutions,"  and  our 
fathers  "  had  laid  down  a  loftier  program  than  their 
successors  were  able  to  fulfill."  It  was  not  strange, 
therefore,  that  the  little  band  of  Free  Soilers  in  this 
Congress  encountered  popular  obloquy  and  social 
outlawry  at  the  Capital.  Their  position  was  offen- 
sive, because  it  rebuked  the  ruling  influences  of  the 
times,  and  summoned  the  real  manhood  of  the 
country  to  its  rescue.  They  were  treated  as  pesti- 
lent fanatics  because  they  bravely  held  up  the  ideal 
of  the  Republic,  and  sought  to  make  it  real.  But 
they  pressed  forward  along  the  path  of  their  aspi- 
rations. They  found  a  solace  for  their  social  ostra- 
cism in  delightful  gatherings  which  assembled 
weekly  at  the  residence  of  Dr.  Bailey,  where  they 
met  philanthropists,  reformers,  and  literary  nota- 
bles. They  had  the  courage  of  their  opinions,  and 
the  genuine  satisfaction  which  accompanies  manli- 
ness of  character;  and  they  lived  to  see  their  prin- 
ciples vindicated,  and  the  political  and  social  tables 
turned  upon  the  men  who  had  honored  them  by 
their  scorn  and  contempt.  The  anti-slavery  revolt 
of  1848,  which  they  represented,  saved  Oregon 
from  slavery,  made  California  a  free  State,  and 
launched  the  policy  of  free  homes  on  the  public 
domain  which  finally  prevailed  in  1862  ;  and  it  was 
the  prophecy  and  parent  of  the  larger  movement 


THE  THIRTY-FIRST  CONGRESS.  113 

which  rallied  under  Fremont  in  1856,  elected  Lin- 
coln in  1860,  and  played  its  grand  part  in  saving 
the  nation  from  destruction  by  the  armed  insurgents 
whom  it  had  vanquished  at  the  ballot-box  This 
will  be  the  sure  award  of  history  ;  but  history  will 
find  another  parentage  for  the  party  despotism  and 
political  corruption  which  have  since  disgraced  the 
administration  of  the  Government. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 

Pro-slavery  reaction — Indiana  and  Ohio— Race  for  Congress — 
Free  Soil  gains  in  other  States — National  Convention  at  Cleve- 
land—National canvass  of  1852 — Nomination  of  Pierce  and 
Scott,  and  the  "  finality  "  platforms— Free  Soil  National  Con- 
vention— Nomination  of  Hale — Samuel  Lewis — The  Whig 
canvass — Webster — Canvass  of  the  Democrats — Return  of 
New  York  "  Barnburners  "  to  the  party— The  Free  Soil  cam- 
paign— Stumping  Kentucky  with  Clay — Rev.  John  G.  Fee — 
Incidents — Mob  law  in  Indiana — Result  of  the  canvass— 
Ruin  of  the  Whigs — Disheartening  facts — The  other  side  of 
the  picture. 

THE  reaction  which  followed  the  passage  of  the 
compromise  acts  of  1850  was  quite  as  remarkable 
as  the  anti-slavery  revolt  of  1848.  which  fright- 
ened the  champions  of  slavery  into  the  espousal 
of  these  desperate  measures.  Immense  meetings 
were  held  in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  and 
other  cities  and  towns  throughout  the  country,  in 
which  leading  Whigs  and  Democrats  united  in 
pledging  themselves  to  make  the  suppression  of 
abolitionism  paramount  to  any  question  of  party 
allegiance.  These  demonstrations  were  vigorous- 
ly seconded  by  leading  clergymen  and  doctors  of 
divinity,  whose  sermons  were  plentifully  scattered 
over  the  land  under  the  frank  of  members  of  Con- 
("4) 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PAR  TY.  115 

gress  and  otherwise.  The  press  put  forth  its  whole 
power  on  the  side  of  anti-slavery  submission  and 
peace,  while  the  Executive  and  Judicial  depart- 
ments of  the  Government  made  haste  to  abase 
themselves  by  their  super- serviceable  zeal  in  the  en- 
forcement of  the  new  Fugitive  Slave  law.  The 
tables  seemed  to  be  completely  turned,  and  the 
time-honored  rule  of  our  slave-masters  impregna- 
bly  re-established.  The  anti-slavery  commotion 
which  a  little  while  before  had  rocked  the  country 
from  one  end  of  the  Union  to  the  other  was  hushed 
in  the  restored  order  which  succeeded,  and  gave 
promise  of  that  longed-for  "  finality  "  for  which  the 
two  great  parties  had  so  ardently  labored. 

In  no  section  of  the  non-slaveholding  States  was 
this  reaction  more  strikingly  felt  than  in  the  West, 
and  especially  in  Illinois  and  Indiana.  These 
States  were  outlying  provinces  of  the  empire  of 
slavery.  Their  black  codes  and  large  Southern 
population  bore  witness  to  their  perfect  loyalty  to 
slave-holding  traditions.  Indiana,  while  a  Territory, 
had  repeatedly  sought  the  introduction  of  slavery 
into  her  borders.  Her  black  laws  had  disfigured 
her  legislation  from  the  beginning,  and  in  1850  were 
made  still  blacker  by  her  new  Constitution,  the 
1 3th  article  of  which,  forbidding  negroes  from 
coming  into  the  State  and  white  men  from  en- 
couraging them  to  remain,  was  submitted  to  the 
people  separately,  and  ratified  by  a  popular  major- 
ity of  nearly  ninety  thousand  votes.  Ten  years 


1 16  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

before,  in  the  Harrison  campaign,  Mr.  Bigger,  the 
Whig  candidate  for  Governor,  made  himself  very 
popular  by  proving  that  Van  Burcn  had  favored 
negro  suffrage  in  New  York.  In  1842,  four  of  the 
Indiana  delegation  in  Congress — namely,  Lane, 
Wallace,  Thompson,  and  Kennedy — voted  for  the 
censure  of  Mr.  Giddings,  which  Mr.  Clay  indig- 
nantly denounced  at  the  time,  and  two  only — 
namely,  White,  and  Cravens — voted  in  the  negative. 
Although  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act 
of  1793  was  a  matter  of  Federal  cognizance  ex- 
clusively, yet  the  State  code  made  the  harboring 
of  a  fugitive  an  offense  against  its  peace  and  dig- 
nity, punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment.  The 
colored  people  were  denied  any  share  in  the  school 
fund,  but  were  taxed  for  its  support ;  and  under  the 
law  forbidding  them  to  testify  in  cases  where  white 
men  were  parties,  they  were  at  the  mercy  of  any 
white  villain  who  might  take  the  precaution  to  perpe- 
trate an  outrage  upon  them  in  the  absence  of  white 
witnesses.  Of  course,  the  organization  of  an  anti- 
slavery  party  strong  enough  to  rule  such  States  as 
these,  was  to  be  the  work  of  time,  toil,  and  patien  ;c. 
It  was  only  possible  to  lay  the  foundation,  and 
build  as  the  material  could  be  commanded ;  but 
the  Free  Soilers,  whether  in  the  East  or  in  the 
West,  were  undismayed  by  the  crisis,  and  fully 
resolved  upon  keeping  up  the  fight.  In  compliance 
with  the  wishes  of  my  anti-slavery  friends,  and  by 
way  of  doing  my  part  in  the  work,  I  decided  to 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 


117 


stand  for  a  re-election  from  the  Fourth  Indiana  Dis- 
trict in  the  spring  of  1851.  The  Wilmot  proviso 
Democrats  who  had  been  chosen  with  me  two 
years  before  on  the  strength  of  their  Free  Soil 
pledges,  including  such  men  as  Joseph  E.  McDon- 
ald and  Graham  N.  Fitch,  now  stood  squarely  on 
the  Compromise  measures. 

The  Whigs  of  the  State,  following  the  lead  of 
Webster  and  Clay,  and  including  Edward  W.  Mc- 
Gaughey,  their  only  delegate  in  Congress,  had  also 
completely  changed  their  base.  My  competitor, 
Samuel  W.  Parker,  whom  I  had  defeated  two  years 
before,  and  who  had  then  insisted  that  the  Whigs 
were  better  anti-slavery  men  than  the  Free  Soilers 
themselves,  now  made  a  complete  somersault,  fully 
committing  himself  to  the  Compromise  acts,  and 
especially  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  which  he  declared 
he  approved  without  changing  the  dotting  of  an  i 
or  the  crossing  of  a  t.  Foote,  Cass,  and  Webster 
were  now  the  oracles  of  the  Whig  faith  ;  but,  oddly 
enough,  the  Democrats,  who  had  formed  by  far  the 
larger  portion  of  my  support  two  years  before,  now 
stood  firm,  and  I  would  undoubtedly  have  been  re- 
elected  but  for  very  vigorous  outside  interference. 
Wm.  J.  Brown,  who  had  intrigued  with  the  leading 
Free  Soilers  for  the  Speakership  in  1849,  as  ^  have 
already  shown,  and  favored  the  passage  of  the  Wil- 
mot proviso  in  order  to  "  stick  it  at  old  Zach,"  was 
now  the  editor  of  the  "  Sentinel,"  the  State  organ  of 
the  Democracy,  which  was  sufficiently  orthodox  on 


Il8  POLITICAL  RECOLLECT! '< 

the  slavery  question  to  pass  muster  in  South  Car- 
olina. It  was  this  organ  which  afterward  insisted 
that  my  abolitionism  entitled  me  to  at  least  five 
years  service  at  hard  labor  in  the  penitentiary.  Mr. 
Brown's  dread  of  this  fearful  heresy  seemed  as  in- 
tense as  it  was  unbounded,  and  he  resolved  at  all 
hazards,to  avert  any  further  alliance  with  it  by  Dem- 
ocrats in  any  portion  of  the  State.  By  very  hard 
work  and  the  most  unscrupulous  expedients  he  suc- 
ceeded in  enlisting  a  few  ambitious  local  magnates  of 
his  party  in  the  district,  who  were  fully  in  sympathy 
with  his  spirit  and  aims,  and  of  whom  Oliver  P. 
Morton  was  the  chief;  and  by  thus  drawing  away 
from  the  democracy  from  two  to  three  hundred  pro- 
slavery  malcontents  and  turning  them  over  to  my 
Whig  competitor,  my  defeat  was  accomplished. 

But  the  effort  to  stem  the  tide  of  slavery  fared 
better  elsewhere.  While  Mr.  Webster  was  pub- 
licly ridiculing  the  "  higher  law,"  and  blurting  his 
contempt  upon  one  of  the  noted  anti-slavery  strong- 
holds of  the  country  as  "  a  laboratory  of  abolition- 
ism, libel,  and  treason,"  Massachusetts  sent  Charles 
Sumner  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and 
elected  Horace  Mann,  Charles  Allen  and  Robert 
Rantoul  as  members  of  the  House.  Amos  Tuck 
was  returned  from  New  Hampshire,  Preston  King 
from  New  York,  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  John  W. 
Howe  from  Pennsylvania,  Charles  Durkee  from 
Wisconsin,  and  Giddingsand  Townsend  from  Ohio. 
These  events  were  exceedingly  gratifying,  and  lent 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  \  19 

new  life  to  the  cause  throughoutthe  Northern  States. 
During  the  summer  of  this  year  Mr.  Sumner  moved 
the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  and  although 
it  received  but  ten  votes,  it  led  to  an  angry  and 
protracted  discussion,  which  showed  how  signally 
the  attempt  to  suppress  anti-slavery  agitation  had 
failed.  In  the'  latter  part  of  September  of  this 
year  a  Free  Soil  National  Convention  met  at  Cleve- 
land, to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  the 
country  and  the  duty  of  anti-slavery  men.  It  was 
large  and  enthusiastic.  It  adopted  a  series  of 
spirited  resolutions  and  a  timely  public  address,  and 
admirable  speeches  were  made  by  Cassius  M.  Clay, 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Samuel  Lewis,  George  Brad- 
burn,  and  others.  The  only  drawback  to  the  pre- 
vailing spirit  of  hopefulness  and  courage  was  the 
absence  of  Mr.  Chase,  who  had  just  withdrawn 
from  the  Free  Soil  party  and  united  his  fortunes 
with  the  Democrats  of  Ohio,  who  had  adopted  a 
platform  which  admitted  an  interpretation  covering, 
substantially,  the  principles  of  the  Free  Soil  creed. 
As  the  time  for  another  Presidential  election  drew 
near,  Whigs  and  Democrats  were  alike  engrossed 
with  the  consideration  of  their  "  final  settlement " 
of  the  slavery  question,  and  their  attitude  respect- 
ing it  in  the  impending  struggle.  Among  the  lat- 
ter there  was  substantially  no  division.  Their  ex- 
perience in  1848  with  Gen.  Cass  and  his  "  Nichol- 
son letter,"  had  convinced  them  that  nothing  was 
to  be  gained  by  mincing  matters,  and  that  a  hearty, 


I2O  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

complete  and  unhesitating  surrender  to  slavery  was 
the  surest  means  of  success.  The  Democrats  in 
Congress,  both  North  and  South,  had  very  gen- 
erally favored  this  "  settlement,"  and  there  was  now 
no  division  in  the  party  except  as  to  men.  The 
candidates  were  Cass,  Buchanan,  Douglas,  and 
Marcy ;  and  the  National  Convention  assembled  on 
the  first  of  June.  The  platform  of  the  party  began 
with  the  declaration  of  its  "  trust  in  the  intelligence, 
the  patriotism,  and  the  discriminating  justice  of 
the  American  people ";  and  then,  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  resolutions,  pronounced  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Act  equally  sacred  with  the  Constitution,  and 
pledged  the  party  to  "  resist  all  attempts  at  renew- 
ing, in  Congress  or  out  of  it,  the  agitation  of  the 
slavery  question,  under  whatever  shape  or  color  the 
attempt  may  be  made."  So  far  as  slavery  was  con- 
cerned it  thus  became  a  recognized  and  authorita- 
tive principle  of  American  Democracy  to  muzzle 
the  press  and  crush  out  the  freedom  of  speech,  as 
the  means  of  upholding  and  perpetuating  its  power. 
On  this  platform  Franklin  Pierce  was  nominated  on 
the  forty-ninth  ballot;  and  in  his  letter  of  accept- 
ance he  declared  that  "  the  principles  it  embraces 
command  the  approbation  of  my  judgment,  and 
with  them  I  believe  I  can  safely  say  that  no  word 
nor  act  of  my  life  is  in  conflict."  It  is  difficult  to 
conceive  of  any  words  by  which  he  could  more 
completely  have  abdicated  his  manhood  and  self- 
respect,  and  sounded  the  knell  of  his  own  con- 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  \2\ 

science.     There  was  no  lower  deep,  and  he  was  evi- 
dently the  right  man  in  the  right  place. 

The  Whig  National    Convention  assembled  on 
the  sixteenth  of  June,  with  Scott,   Fillmore  and 
Webster  as  the  candidates.     There  was  yet  a  con- 
siderable anti-slavery  element  in  the  party,  but  it 
was  paralyzed  and  powerless.     It  had  made  a  fatal 
mistake  in  submitting  to  the  nomination  of  Gen. 
Taylor,  and  became  still  more  completely  demoral- 
ized by  the  accession  of  Fillmore,  who  turned  his 
back  upon  his  past  life,  and  threw  himself  into  the 
arms  of  the  slave-holders.    The  old  party  had  gone 
astray  too  long  and  too  far  to  return,  and  now  de- 
termined   to   seek    its   fortunes    in   the   desperate 
effort  to  outdo  the  Democrats  in  cringing  servility 
to  the  South.     The   platform  of  the  Convention 
expressed  the  reliance  of  the  Whigs  "  upon  the  in- 
telligence   of  the   American  people,"   but  in    its 
eighth  resolution  declared  their  acquiescence  in  the 
Compromise  Acts  of  1850 "as  a  final  settlement,  in 
principle  and  substance,  of  the  subjects  to  which 
they  relate  "  ;  and  it  deprecated  "  all  further  agita- 
tion of  the  questions  thus  settled,  as  dangerous  to 
our  peace,"  and  pledged  the  party  "  to  discounte- 
nance all  efforts  to  continue  or  renew  such  agitation, 
whenever,  wherever,  or  however  made."     On  this 
platform,  which  is  well  understood  to  have  been  the 
work  of  Mr.  Webster,  Gen.  Scott  was  nominated  on 
the  fifty-ninth  ballot  by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  to  sixty-six,  while   the  highest  vote 


122  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

received  by  Mr.  Webster  was  twenty-nine.  Here 
at  last,  the  Whig  party  had  made  a  complete  sur- 
render of  its  integrity,  and  verified  all  that  had  ever 
been  said  by  Free  Soilers  as  to  its  treachery  to  free- 
dom ;  and  here,  finally,  these  rival  parties  were 
tumbled  together  into  the  ditch  of  slavery,  and 
wallowing  in  the  mire  of  their  degradation  and 
shame.  The  only  issue  of  the  canvass  was  slavery, 
and  on  this  they  were  perfectly  agreed,  while  each, 
for  the  sake  of  the  spoils  of  office,  was  trying  to 
surpass  the  other  in  the  damning  proofs  of  its 
treason  to  humanity  and  its  contempt  for  the  fun- 
damental truths  of  republican  government. 

The  spectacle  was  most  pitiably  humiliating,  but 
I  counted  it  an  omen  of  progress.  The  old  parties 
were  now  unequivocally  committed  to  the  policy  of 
nationalizing  the  sectional  interest  of  slavery,  and 
the  way  thus  opened  for  a  fair  fight.  The  lines 
were  clearly  drawn,  and  the  issue  unmistakably 
made  between  freedom  and  free  speech  on  the  one 
side,  and  slavery  and  the  gag  on  the  other.  I 
thought  we  should  have  no  more  anti-slavery  pro- 
fessions from  Whigs  and  Democrats,  no  further 
courting  of  Free  Soilers,  and  no  more  mutual  up- 
braidings  of  servility  to  the  South  ;  and  that  thus 
the  way  would  be  smoothed  for  intelligent  and  ef- 
fective anti-slavery  work. 

The  Free  Soil  National  Convention  met  in  Pitts- 
burg  on  the  eleventh  of  August,  and  I  believe  an 
assemblage  of  purer  men  never  convened  for  any 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PAR  TY.  123 

political    purpose.      All   the    compromising    and 
trading  elements  that  had  drifted  into  the  move- 
ment in  1848  had  now  gravitated  back  to  the  old 
parties,  leaving  a  residuum  of  permanent  adherents 
of  the  cause,  who  were  perfectly  ready  to  brave  the 
frowns  of  public  opinion  and  the  proscription  and 
wrath  of  the  old  parties.     Henry  Wilson  was  made 
president    of    the  convention,   and    the    platform 
adopted  was  substantially  that  of  1848.     A  few  ad- 
ditional resolves,  however,  were  added,  including 
the  declaration  "  that  emigrants  and   exiles  from 
the  old  world  should  find  a  cordial   welcome  to 
homes  of  comfort  and   fields  of  enterprise  in  the 
new,"  and  that  "  every   attempt  to   abridge  their 
privilege  of  becoming  citizens  and  owners  of  the 
soil  among  us  ought  to  be  resisted  with   inflexible 
determination."     It  was  also    declared    "that  the 
Free  Democratic  party  was    not  organized  to  aid 
either  the  Whig  or  Democratic  wing  of  the  great 
Slave    Compromise   party  of  the  Nation,  but  to 
defeat  them  both ;    and  that,  repudiating   and  re- 
nouncing both  as  hopelessly  corrupt   and  utterly 
unworthy  of  confidence,  the  purpose    of  the  Free 
Democracy  is   to   take   possession  of  the  Federal 
Government,  and  administer  it  for  the  better  pro- 
tection of  the  rights  and   interests  of  the  whole 
people."     On  this  platform  John  P.  Hale  was  nom- 
inated for  the  Presidency.     My  own    nomination 
for  the  second  place  on  the  ticket  was  to  me  a  com- 
plete surprise.     I  fully  expected  this  honor  would 


124  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

fill  upon  Samuel  Lewis,  of  Ohio,  and  the  delega- 
tion from  my  own  State  was  unitedly  for  him.  He 
coveted  the  nomination,  and  so  did  his  many  de- 
voted friends,  simply  as  a  fitting  recognition  of  his 
faithful  service  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  to  which  he 
had  been  unselfishly  devoted  since  the  year  1841. 
He  had  made  himself  a  public  benefactor  by  his 
long  and  powerful  championship  of  the  cause  of 
education  in  Ohio.  He  was  a  man  of  brains,  and 
enthusiastically  devoted  to  every  work  of  practical 
philanthropy  and  reform.  As  an  impassioned, 
eloquent,  and  effective  popular  orator,  he  had  no 
equal  in  the  country.  His  profound  earnestness, 
perfect  sincerity,  and  religious  fervor  conquered  all 
hearts,  and  made  his  anti-slavery  appeals  irresistible. 
He  was  a  strong  and  brave  old  man,  who  richly 
deserved  whatever  distinction  his  nomination  could 
confer ;  but  for  reasons  unknown  to  me  he  encoun- 
tered in  the  convention  the  formidable  opposition 
of  Mr.  Chase,  and  he  wrote  me  very  touchingly 
a  few  days  afterward  that  "  among  the  thousands 
who  have  given  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  this 
cause,  my  name  will  be  forgotten,  while  those  who 
have  coolly  stood  by  and  watched  the  signs  of  the 
times,  and  filled  their  sails  with  the  wind  that  others 
have  raised,  will  go  down  to  history  as  heroes  and 
martyrs  in  a  cause  for  which  they  never  fought  a 
battle  nor  suffered  a  sacrifice." 

The  canvass  of  the  Whigs  was  totally  without 
heart  or  enthusiasm.     The  Southern  wing  of  the 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  125 

party  had  dictated  the  platform,  but  did  not  like 
Gen.  Scott.  Stephens  and  Toombs,  of  Georgia, 
and  Jones  and  Gentry,  of  Tennessee,  refused  to 
support  him.  The  Northern  Whigs  were  greatly 
embarrassed,  and  while  they  felt  constrained  to  sup- 
port the  candidate,  tried  to  relieve  their  consciences 
by  "  spitting  upon  the  platform"  on  which  he  stood. 
Mr.  Webster  did  not  disguise  his  hostility  to  the 
ticket,  and  predicted  the  speedy  dissolution  of  the 
party.  The  Democrats  were  united  in  this  con- 
test. Notwithstanding  their  atrocious  platform 
they  succeeded  in  persuading  the  leading  Barn- 
burners of  1848  to  return  to  the  party  and  muster 
again  in  the  army  of  slavery.  Dix,  the  Van  Burens, 
David  Dudley  Field,  Tilden,  and  a  host  of  others, 
including  even  Robert  Rantoul  and  Preston  King, 
were  now  fighting  for  Pierce,  while  Bryant's  "  Even- 
ing Post  "  and  Greeley's  "  Tribune  "  cravenly  sub- 
mitted to  the  shackles  of  slavery.  In  the  light  of 
such  facts  as  these  it  was  easy  to  forecast  the  result 
of  the  contest. 

The  real  enthusiasm  of  this  campaign  was  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Free  Soilers.  They  had,  of  course, 
no  dream  of  success,  or  even  of  carrying  a  single 
electoral  vote ;  but  they  were  profoundly  in  earnest, 
and  united  as  one  man  against  the  combination  of 
the  old  parties  in  behalf  of  slavery.  I  took  the 
stump,  and  early  in  the  campaign  accepted  an  in- 
vitation to  join  Cassius  M.  Clay  in  the  canvass  of 
the  counties  of  Lewis,  Bracken,  and  Mason,  in 


126  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Kentucky.  On  my  way  to  our  first  appointment  I 
stopped  at  Maysville,  where  I  found  myself  in  the 
midst  of  a  considerable  excitement  about  some 
thirty  or  forty  slaves  who  had  just  crossed  the  Ohio 
on  their  way  to  Canada.  I  met  Mr.  Clay  at  the 
residence  of  the  Rev.  John  G.  Fee,  some  eight  miles 
distant  in  Lewis  county,  where  we  talked  over  the 
plan  of  our  campaign.  Mr.  Fee  was  the  founder 
of  an  anti-slavery  colony,  a  free  school,  and  a  free 
church,  in  that  region,  and  was  a  scholar,  philan- 
thropist, and  reformer.  His  whole  heart  was  in 
the  anti-slavery  cause,  and  his  courage  had  never 
failed  him  in  facing  the  ruffianism  and  brutality 
which  slavery  employed  in  its  service ;  but  I  would 
not  have  felt  very  safe  in  this  enterprise  without  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Clay,  who  was  known  in  Kentucky, 
and  everywhere  else,  as  "  a  fighting  Christian," 
who  would  defend  the  freedom  of  speech  at  any 
hazard.  Our  first  meeting  was  in  Mr.  Fee's 
church,  in  the  rocky  and  mountainous  region  of 
the  county,  where  we  had  perfect  order  and  an  at- 
tentive and  sympathetic  audience.  From  this 
point  we  proceeded  the  next  day  to  our  appoint- 
ment in  Maysville,  finding  a  good  deal  of  excite- 
ment in  the  city  as  to  the  propriety  of  allowing  us 
to  speak  in  the  court  house.  It  was  finally  thrown 
open  to  us,  and  in  the  afternoon  I  was  handsomely 
introduced  by  Mr.  Clay  to  a  fine  audience,  speak- 
ing at  length,  and  with  great  plainness,  on  the 
issues  of  the  canvass,  and  being  frequently  ap- 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 


127 


plauded.  Mr.  Clay  spoke  at  night  to  a  still  larger 
audience,  wrjile  perfect  order  prevailed.  So  far  our 
success  seemed  gratifying,  and  Mr.  Fee  was  de- 
lighted ;  and  we  proceeded  the  following  morning 
to  our  next  appointment  at  Brooksville,  in  Bracken 
county.  Here  we  found  assembled  a  large  crowd 
of  that  brutalized  rabble  element  which  formed  the 
background  of  slavery  everywhere.  The  aboriginal 
creatures  gazed  at  us  like  so  many  wild  animals, 
but  showed  not  the  slightest  disposition  to  enter 
the  house  in  which  we  were  to  speak.  Mr.  Clay 
remarked  that  they  must  be  Whigs,  since  they  did 
not  seem  inclined  to  "  resist,"  but  only  to  "  discoun- 
tenance "  our  agitation ;  but  we  had  come  to  speak, 
and  with  Mr.  Fee's  family  and  a  few  friends  who 
had  come  with  us  for  an  audience,  we  spoke  about 
an  hour  and  a  half  each,  just  as  if  the  house  had 
been  filled.  A  few  straggled  in  during  the  speak- 
ing, and  several  hung  about  the  windows  and  list- 
ened, though  they  tried  to  seem  not  to  do  so  ;  but 
the  most  remarkable  and  praiseworthy  thing  about 
this  congregation  of  Yahoos  was  that  they  did  not 
mob  us.  It  must  have  seemed  to  them  a  strange 
waste  of  power  to  spare  such  notorious  disturbers 
of  the  peace,  and  return  to  the>  homes  without 
any  laurels.  This  ended  our  work  in  Kentucky, 
where  we  could  boast  that  the  "  finality  "  platform 
had  been  openly  set  at  defiance,  and  I  returned  to 
my  work  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ohio. 

Later  in  the  canvass,  on  my  return  from  Wiscon- 


US  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

sin  and  Illinois,  I  learned  that  Andrew  L.  Rob- 
inson, the  Free  Soil  candidate  for  Governor  of 
Indiana,  had  been  mobbed  in  the  city  of  Terre 
Haute,  and  prevented  from  making  an  anti-slavery 
speech.  This  was  not  surprising,  as  this  section 
of  the  State  was  largely  settled  by  people  from 
Maryland,  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  who  were  as 
intolerant  of  abolitionism  as  those  of  Bracken 
county  already  described.  I  immediately  sent  a 
telegram  making  an  appointment  to  speak  in  that 
city,  and  on  the  day  appointed  reported  for  duty. 
I  found  my  friends  uneasy  and  apprehensive.  They 
evidently  regretted  my  coming,  and  some  of  them 
advised  me  quietly  to  return  home.  The  town 
was  full  of  rumors  that  I  was  not  to  be  allowed  to 
speak,  and  was  to  be  "  wabashcd,"  as  the  rowdies 
phrased  it.  But  I  had  no  thought  of  returning 
without  being  heard ;  and  accordingly,  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour,  I  repaired  to  the  court  house,  where 
I  found  a  small  crowd  assembled,  with  restless 
countenances,  and  a  gang  of  ruffians  outside, 
armed  with  stones  and  brickbats.  The  audience 
gradually  increased,  and  as  I  began  to  speak  I 
noticed  that  the  roughs  themselves  began  to  listen, 
which  they  continued  to  do  during  the  hour  and  a 
half  I  devoted  to  the  most  unmistakable  utterances 
on  the  slavery  question.  The  ringleader  of  the 
mob,  for  some  reason,  failed  to  give  the  signal  of 
attack,  and  free  speech  was  vindicated.  Timid  men 
grew  brave,  and  boasted  of  the  love  of  order  that 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  129 

had  prompted  the  people  of  the  town  to  stand  by  my 
rights ;  yet  the  mob  would  probably  have  triumphed 
but  for  the  presence  of  Joseph  O.  Jones,  the  post- 
master of  the  city,  himself  a  Kentuckian,  but  a 
believer  in  the  right  of  free  speech  and  the  duty  of 
defending  it  at  all  hazards. 

The  result  of  this  Presidential  canvass  was  a  sur- 
prise to  all  parties.  The  triumph  of  the  Democrats 
was  anticipated,  but  it  was  far  more  signal  than 
they  expected.  Pierce  received  two  hundred  and 
fifty-four  electoral  votes,  and  Scott  only  forty-two, 
representing  only  four  States  of  the  Union.  So 
far  as  the  Whig  party  was  concerned,  the  result 
was  overwhelming  and  final.  The  party  was  bur- 
ied forever  in  the  grave  it  had  dug  for  itself.  Hale 
received  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  thousand  votes,  being  about  one-twentieth  of 
the  entire  popular  vote  cast  at  this  election  ;  so  that 
nineteen-twentieths  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  1852,  and  only  a  little  more  than  a  dozen 
years  before  slavery  was  swept  from  the  land,  voted 
themselves  bound  and  dumb  before  this  Moloch  of 
American  politics,  while  only  one-twentieth  had 
the  courage  to  claim  their  souls  as  their  own. 
These  were  very  startling  facts  after  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  of  anti-slavery  agitation,  and 
they  were  naturally  interpreted  by  the  victorious 
party  everywhere  as  clearly  foreshadowing  the 
complete  triumph  of  the  "  final  settlement  "  made 
by  Congress  in  1850.  Certainly  they  seemed  very 
9 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


disheartening  to  anti-slavery  men ;  for,  however  con- 
fidently they  might  believe  in  the  final  success  of 
their  struggle,  they  could  not  fail  to  see  the  im- 
mense odds  and  fearful  obstacles  against  which 
they  would  have  to  contend.  The  debauched 
masses  who  had  been  molded  and  kneaded  by  the 
plastic  touch  of  slavery  into  such  base  uses,  were 
the  only  possible  material  from  which  recruits 
could  be  drawn  for  a  great  party  of  the  future, 
which  should  regenerate  our  politics  and  re-en- 
throne the  love  of  liberty ;  and  this  should  be  re- 
membered in  estimating  the  courage  and  faith  of  the 
men  who  in  that  dark  hour  held  aloft  the  banner 
of  freedom,  in  spite  of  all  temptations  to  go  with 
the  multitude. 

But  there  was  another  view  of  the  situation 
which  thoughtful  anti-slavery  men  did  not  fail  to 
enforce.  The  overwhelming  triumph  of  Pierce 
was  not  an  unmixed  victory  for  slavery.  It  had 
another  explanation.  It  was  to  be  remembered,  to 
the  credit  of  the  Whig  party,  that  thousands  of  its 
members,  notwithstanding  their  dislike  of  Pierce 
and  their  admiration  of  Gen.  Scott  as  a  man  and  a 
soldier,  and  despite  the  attempted  drill  of  their 
leaders  and  the  influence  of  Greeley  and  Seward, 
could  not  be  induced  to  support  the  ticket,  and 
were  now  ready  for  further  acts  of  independence. 
It  was  likewise  to  be  remembered  that  in  the  com- 
plete rout  and  ruin  of  the  party  a  great  obstacle  to 
anti-slavery  progress  had  been  removed.  The 


THE  RE  PUB  L  1C  AN  PARTY.  131 

slave-holders  at  once  recognized  this  fact.  They 
had  aimed  to  defeat  the  party,  no't  to  annihilate  it. 
They  saw  clearly  that  what  slavery  needed  was 
two  pretty  evenly  divided  parties',  pitted  against 
each  other  upon  economic  issues,  so  that  under 
cover  of  their  strife  it  could  be  allowed  to  have  its 
way;  and  they  were  justly  alarmed  at  the  prospect 
of  a  new  movement,  basing  its  action  upon  moral 
grounds,  and  gathering  into  its  ranks  the  un- 
shackled conscience  and  intelligence  of  the  North- 
ern States.  The  "  Washington  Union,"  then  the 
National  organ  of  the  Democracy,  deplored  the 
death  of  the  Whig  party,  and  earnestly  hoped  for 
its  resurrection.  The  fact  had  always  been  patent 
to  anti-slavery  men  that  these  parties  were  alike 
the  bulwarks  of  slavery,  since  the  Southern  wing 
of  each  gave  law  to  the  whole  body,  and  that  until 
one  or  the  other  could  be  totally  destroyed,  a  really 
formidable  anti-slavery  party  was  impossible. 
There  was  also  great  cause  for  encouragement  in 
the  evident  signs  of  a  growing  anti-slavery  public 
opinion.  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  had  found  its  way 
to  the  million  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  the 
rage  for  it  among  all  classes  was  without  parallel 
in  the  history  of  literature.  It  was  served  up  for 
the  masses  in  sixpenny  editions,  dramatized  and 
acted  on  the  stage,  and  coined  into  poetry  and 
song.  Slave-holders  were  alarmed  at  its  wonderful 
success,  because  they  saw  the  grand  part  it  was 
playing  in  creating  that  "public  opinion  of  the 


132  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

civilized  world"  which  Mr.  Webster  had  declared  to 
be  "  the  mightiest  power  on  earth."  The  replies  to 
this  wonderful  book,  and  the  anti-slavery  and  pro- 
slavery  literature  to  which  it  gave  birth,  largely 
contributed  to  the  progress  of  freedom,  and  the 
final  repudiation  of  the  "  finality  "  which  the  great 
parties  had  combined  to  establish. 

Nor  was  the  small  vote  for  Hale  a  matter  of  seri- 
ous discouragement.  It  was  much  smaller  than 
that  cast  for  Van  Buren  in  1848;  but  that  was  a 
deceptive  epoch.  Multitudes,  and  especially  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  then  voted  the  Free  Soil 
ticket  who  had  never  before  shown  any  interest  in 
the  slavery  question,  and  did  not  manifest  it  after- 
ward. They  were  not  Free  Soil  men,  but  Van 
Buren  men,  who  hated  Gen.  Cass.  The  vote  for 
Hale  represented  the  bona  fide  strength  of  our 
cause  after  this  element  had  been  eliminated,  and 
its  quality  went  far  to  atone  for  its  quantity.  The 
proper  test  of  anti-slavery  progress  was  a  compari- 
son of  the  anti-slavery  vote  of  1844  with  that  of 
1852,  and  this  showed  an  increase  of  nearly  three- 
fold in  the  intervening  space  of  eight  years.  This 
steady  evolution  of  anti-slavery  opinion  from  the 
deadening  materialism  and  moral  inertia  of  the 
times  could  not  go  backward,  but  in  the  very 
nature  of  things  would  repeat  itself,  and  gather 
fresh  momentum  from  every  effort  put  forth  to 
stay  its  advance. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  (CON- 
TINUED). 

A  notable  fugitive  slave  case — Inauguration  of  Pierce — Repeal 
of  the  Missouri  compromise — Its  effect  upon  the  parties — 
The  Free  Soil  position — Know-Nothingism — The  situation 
— First  steps  in  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party — 
Movements  of  the  Know-Nothings — Mistake  of  the  Free 
Soilers — Anti-slavery  progress — Election  of  Banks  as  Speaker 
— Call  for  a  Republican  National  Convention  at  Pittsburg — 
Organization  of  the  party — The  Philadelphia  convention  and 
its  platform — Nomination  of  Fremont — Know-Nothing  and 
Whig  nominations — Democratic  nomination  and  platform — 
The  grand  issue  of  the  campaign — The  Democratic  canvass 
— The  splendid  fight  for  Fremont — Triumph  of  Buchanan 
— Its  causes  and  results — The  teaching  of  events. 

IT  was  early  in  the  year  1853  that  a  notable  fugi- 
tive slave  case  occurred  in  Indiana.  The  alleged 
fugitive  was  John  Freeman,  who  had  once  resided 
in  Georgia,  but  for  many  years  had  been  a  resident 
of  Indianapolis  and  had  never  been  a  slave.  The 
marshal  of  the  State,  though  he  had  voted  against 
the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Act  of  1850,  entered 
upon  the  service  of  Ellington,  the  claimant,  with 
a  zeal  and  alacrity  which  made  him  exceedingly 
odious  to  anti-slavery  men.  He  accompanied 

(133) 


134  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Ellington  into  the  jail  in  which  Freeman  was  con- 
fined, and  compelled  him  to  expose  his  shoulders 
and  legs,  so  that  the  witnesses  could  identify  him 
by  certain  marks,  and  swear  according  to  the  pat- 
tern, which  they  did.  The  case  became  critical  for 
Freeman;  but  the  feeling  in  Indianapolis  was  so 
strong  in  his  favor  that  a  continuance  of  the  hear- 
ing was  granted  to  enable  him  to  prepare  his  proofs. 
He  hired  friends  to  go  to  Georgia,  who  succeeded 
in  bringing  back  with  them  several  men  who  had 
known  him  there  many  years  before,  and  testified 
that  he  was  a  free  man.  On  the  day  of  the  trial 
Ellington  became  the  fugitive,  while  Freeman  was 
preparing  his  papers  for  a  prosecution  for  false  im- 
prisonment. The  large  crowd  in  attendance  was 
quite  naturally  turned  into  an  anti-slavery  meeting, 
which  was  made  to  do  good  service  in  the  way  of 
•'  agitation."  The  men  from  Georgia  were  on  the 
platform,  and  while  they  were  complimented  by  the 
speakers  on  their  love  of  justice  and  humanity  in 
coming  to  the  rescue  of  Freeman,  no  quarter  was 
given  to  the  Northern  serviles  and  flunkeys  who  had 
made  haste  to  serve  the  perjured  villains  who  had 
undertaken  to  kidnap  a  citizen  of  the  State  under 
the  forms  of  an  atrocious  law.  The  meeting  was 
very  enthusiastic,  and  the  tables  completely  turned 
on  the  slave- catching  faction. 

When  President  Pierce  was  inaugurated,  on  the 
fourth  of  March,  1853,  the  pride  and  power  of  the 
Democratic  party  seemed  to  be  at  their  flood.  In 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PAR  TY.  135 

his  inaugural  message  he  expressed  the  fervent 
hope  that  the  slavery  question  was  "  forever  at  rest/' 
and  he  doubtless  fully  believed  that  this  hope  would 
be  realized.  In  his  annual  message,  in  December 
following,  he  lauded  the  Compromise  measures 
with  great  emphasis,  and  declared  that  the  repose 
which  they  had  brought  to  the  country  should  re- 
ceive no  shock  during  his  term  of  office  if  he  could 
avert  it.  The  anti-slavery  element  in  the  Thirty- 
third  Congress  was  scarcely  as  formidable  as  in  the 
preceding  one,  though  there  were  some  accessions. 
Benjamin  F.  Wade  was  now  in  the  Senate,  and  De 
Witt  of  Massachusetts,  Gerritt  Smith  of  New  York, 
and  Edward  Wade  of  Ohio,  were  members  of  the 
House.  In  the  beginning  the  session  gave  promise 
of  a  quiet  one,  but  on  the  twenty-third  of  January 
the  precious  repose  of  the  country,  to  which  the 
President  had  so  lovingly, referred  in  his  message, 
was  rudely  shocked  by  the  proposition  of  Sena- 
tor Douglas  to  repeal  the  Missouri  compromise. 
This  surprising  demonstration  from  a  leading  friend 
of  the  Administration  and  a  champion  of  the  com- 
promise measures  marked  a  new  epoch  in  the 
career  of  slavery,  and  rekindled  the  fires  of  sec- 
tional strife.  After  a  very  exciting  debate  in  both 
houses,  which  lasted  four  months,  the  measure 
finally  became  a  law  on  the  thirtieth  of  May,  1854. 
It  was  a  sprout  from  the  grave  of  the  Wilmot 
proviso ;  for  if,  under  the  Constitution,  it  was  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  abandon  the  policy  of  restric- 


POLITICAL  KECOLI.ECTIONS. 


tion  in  1850,  and  provide  that  Utah  and  New 
Mexico  should  be  received  into  the  Union,  with  or 
without  slavery,  according  to  the  choice  of  their 
people,  the  Missouri  compromise  line  should  never 
have  been  established,  and  was  a  rock  of  off 
to  the  slave-holders.  The  Compromise  Acts  of 
1850  had  not  abrogated  that  line,  and  related  only 
to  our  Mexican  acquisitions  ;  but  they  had  affirmed 
a  principle,  and  if  that  principle  was  sound,  the 
Missouri  restriction  was  indefensible.  The  whole- 
question  of  slavery  was  thus  reopened,  for  the  sa- 
credness  of  the  compact  of  1820  and  the  wicked- 
ness of  its  violation  depended  largely  upon  the 
character  of  slavery  itself,  and  our  constitutional 
relations  to  it. 

On  all  sides  the  situation  was  exceedingly  crit- 
ical and  peculiar.  The  Whigs,  in  their  now  practi- 
cally disbanded  condition,  were  free  to  act  as  they 
saw  fit,  and  were  very  indignant  at  this  new  demon- 
stration in  the  interest  of  slavery,  while  they  were 
yet  in  no  mood  to  countenance  any  form  of  "  abo- 
litionism." Multitudes  of  Democrats  were  equally 
indignant,  and  were  quite  ready  to  join  hands  with 
the  Whigs  in  branding  slavery  with  the  violation 
of  its  plighted  faith.  Both  made  the  sacredness  of 
the  bargain  of  1820  and  the  crime  of  its  violation 
the  sole  basis  of  their  hostility.  Their  hatred  of 
slavery  was  geographical,  spending  its  force  north 
of  the  Missouri  restriction.  They  talked  far  more 
eloquently  about  the  duty  of  keeping  covenants, 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PAR  TV.  137 

and  the  wickedness  of  reviving  sectional  agitation, 
than  the  evils  of  slavery,  and  the  cold-blooded 
conspiracy  to  spread  it  over  an  empire  of  free  soil. 
Their  watch-word  and  rallying  cry  was  "  the  res- 
toration of  the  Missouri  compromise";  but  this 
demand  was  not  made  merely  as  a  preliminary  to 
other  measures,  which  would  restore  the  free  States 
to  the  complete  assertion  of  their  constitutional 
rights,  but  as  a  means  of  propitiating  the  spirit  of 
compromise,  and  a  convenient  retreat  to  the  adjust- 
ment acts  of  1850  and  the  "  finality  "  platforms  of 
1852.  In  some  States  and  localities  the  anti-slavery 
position  of  these  parties  was  somewhat  broader ; 
but  as  a  general  rule  the  ground  on  which  they 
marshaled  their  forces  was  substantially  what  I 
have  stated. 

The  position  of  the  Free  Soilers  was  radically 
different.  They  opposed  slavery  upon  principle, 
and  irrespective  of  any  compact  or  compromise. 
They  did  not  demand  the  restoration  of  the  Mis- 
souri compromise ;  and  although  they  rejoiced  at 
the  popular  condemnation  of  the  perfidy  which  had 
repealed  it,  they  regarded  it  as  a  false  issue.  It 
was  an  instrument  on  which  different  tunes  could 
be  played.  To  restore  this  compromise  would  pre- 
vent the  spread  of  slavery  over  soil  that  was  free ; 
but  it  would  re-affirm  the  binding  obligation  of  a 
compact  that  should  never  have  been  made,  and 
from  which  we  were  now  offered  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity of  deliverance.  It  would  be  to  recognize 


138  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

slavery  as  an  equal  and  honorable  contracting 
party,  waiving  its  violated  faith,  and  thus  preclud- 
ing us  from  pleading  its  perfidy  in  discharge  of  all 
compromises.  It  would  degrade  our  cause  to  the 
level  of  those  who  washed  their  hands  of  all  taint 
of  abolitionism,  and  only  waged  war  against  the 
Administration  because  it  broke  up  the  blessed 
reign  of  peace  which  descended  upon  the  country 
in  the  year  1850.  These  Free  Soilers  insisted  that 
the  breach  of  this  compact  was  only  a  single  link- 
in  a  great  chain  of  measures  aiming  at  the  absolute 
supremacy  of  slavery  in  the  Government,  and  thus 
inviting  a  resistance  commensurate  with  that  policy  I 
and  that  this  breach  should  be  made  the  exodus  of 
the  people  from  the  bondage  of  all  compromises. 
They  argued  that  to  cut  down  the.  issue  between 
slavery  and  freedom  to  so  narrow,  equivocal,  and 
half-hearted  a  measure,  at  a  time  when  every  con- 
sideration pleaded  for  radical  and  thorough  work, 
was  practical  infidelity  to  the  cause  and  the  crisis. 
It  was  sporting  with  humanity,  and  giving  to  the 
winds  a  glorious  victory  for  the  right  when  it  was 
within  our  grasp. 

The  situation  was  complicated  by  two  other  polit- 
ical elements.  One  of  these  was  Temperance,  which 
now,  for  the  first  time,  had  become  a  most  absorb- 
ing political  issue.  The  "  Maine  Law  "  agitation 
had  reached  the  West,  and  the  demand  of  the 
temperance  leaders  was  "  search,  seizure,  con- 
fiscation, and  destruction  of  liquors  kept  for  illegal 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  139 

sale."  Keenly  alive  to  the  evils  of  drunkenness, 
and  too  impatient  to  wait  for  the  inevitable  condi- 
tions of  progress,  they  thought  the  great  work 
could  be  accomplished  by  a  legislative  short-cut. 
They  insisted  that  the  "  accursed  poison  "  of  the 
"rumseller,"  wherever  it  could  be  found,  should 
be  poured  into  the  gutter  along  with  other  filth, 
while  he  should  be  marched  off  to  answer  to  the 
charge  of  a  crime  against  society,  and  take  his  rank 
among  other  great  offenders.  Instead  of  directing 
their  chief  attack  against  the  appetite  for  drink  and 
seeking  to  lessen  the  demand,  their  effort  was  to 
destroy  the  supply.  They  had  evidently  given  no 
thought  to  the  function  of  civil  government  in 
dealing  with  the  problem,  nor  did  they  perceive 
that  the  vice  of  drunkenness  is  an  effect,  quite  as 
much  as  a  cause,  having  its  genesis  in  unequal  laws, 
in  the  domination  of  wealth  over  the  poor,  in  the 
lack  of  general  education,  in  inherited  infirmities, 
physical  and  mental,  in  neglected  household  train- 
ing; in  a  word,  in  untoward  social  conditions  which 
must  be  radically  dealt  with  before  we  can  strike 
with  effect  at  the  root  of  the  evil.  They  did  not 
see  that  the  temperance  question  is  thus  a  many- 
sided  one,  involving  the  general  uplifting  of  society, 
and  that  no  legislation  can  avail  much  which  loses 
sight  of  this  truth.  For  these  very  reasons  the 
agitation  for  a  time  swept  everything  before  it.  Its 
current  was  resistless,  because  it  was  narrow  and 
impetuous.  If  the  leaders  had  comprehended  the 


!  .  ITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

logic  of  their  work  and  its  unavoidable  limitations, 
and  had  only  looked  forward  to  the  overthrow  of 
the  fabric  of  intemperance  by  undermining  its 
foundations,  the  regular  current  of  politics  would 
not  have  been  perceptibly  affected,  while  the  way 
would  have  been  left  open  for  a  more  perfect  union 
on  the  really  vital  and  overshadowing  issue  of 
slavery. 

The  other  element  referred  to  made  its  appr.ir- 
ance  in  the  closing  months  of  1853,  and  took  the 
name  of  the  Know-Nothing  party.  It  was  a  secret 
oath-bound  political  order,  and  its  demand  was  the 
proscription  of  Catholics  and  a  probation  of  twen- 
ty-one years  for  the  foreigner  as  a  qualification  for 
the  right  of  suffrage.  Its  career  was  as  remarka- 
ble as  it  was  disgraceful.  Thousands  were  made 
to  believe  that  the  Romish  hierarchy  was  about  to 
overthrow  our  liberties,  and  that  the  evils  of  "  for- 
eignism  "  had  become  so  alarming  as  to  justffy  the 
extraordinary  measures  by  which  it  was  proposed 
to  counteract  them.  Thousands,  misled  by  polit- 
ical knaves  through  the  arts  of  the  Jesuits  believed 
that  the  cause  of  freedom  was  to  be  sanctified  and 
saved  by  this  new  thing  under  the  sun.  Thousands, 
through  their  unbridled  credulity,  were  persuaded 
that  political  hacks  and  charlatans  were  to  lose 
their  occupation  under  the  reign  of  the  new  Order, 
and  that  our  debauched  politics  were  to  be  thor- 
oughly purified  by  the  lustration  which  it  promised 
forthwith  to  perform.  Thousands,  eager  to  bolt 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  141 

from  the  old  parties,  but  fearful  of  being  shot  down 
on  the  way  as  deserters,  gladly  availed  themselves 
of  this  newly  devised  "underground  railroad"  in 
escaping  from  the  service  of  their  old  masters. 
Under  these  various  influences  the  Whigs  gener- 
ally, and  a  large  proportion  of  the  Free  Soilers  and 
Democrats,  were  enlisted  in  the  service  of  this 
remarkable  movement.  Pretending  to  herald  a 
new  era  in  our  politics  in  which  the  people. were  to 
take  the  helm  and  expel  demagogues  and  trad- 
ers from  the  ship,  it  reduced  political  swindling 
to  the  certainty  and  system  of  a  science.  It  drew 
to  itself,  as  the  great  festering  centre  of  corruption, 
all  the  known  rascalities  of  the  previous  generation, 
and  assigned  them  to  active  duty  in  its  service. 
It  was  an  embodied  lie  of  the  first  magnitude,  a 
horrid  conspiracy  against  decency,  the  rights  of 
man,  and  the  principle  of  human  brotherhood. 

Its  birth,  simultaneously  with  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  compromise,  was  not  an  accident,  as  any 
one  could  see  who  had  studied  the  tactics  of  the 
slave-holders.  It  was  a  well-timed  scheme  to  divide 
the  people  of  the  free  States  upon  trifles  and  side 
issues,  while  the  South  remained  a  unit  in  defense 
of  its  great  interest.  It  was  the  cunning  attempt 
to  balk  and  divert  the  indignation  aroused  by  the 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  restriction,  which  else  would 
spend  its  force  upon  the  aggressions  of  slavery ; 
for  by  thus  kindling  the  Protestant  jealousy  of  our 
people  against  the  Pope,  and  enlisting  them  in  a 


142  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

crusade  against  the  foreigner,  the  South  could  all 
the  more  successfully  push  forward  its  schemes. 

On  this  ground,  as  an  anti-slavery  man,  I  opposed 
it  with  all  my  might  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  its  life.  For  a  time  it  carried  everything  with  a 
high  hand.  It  was  not  only  irresistible  in  numbers, 
but  it  fought  in  the  dark.  It  pretended  to  act  openly 
and  in  friendly  conference  with  its  enemies  as  to 
questions  which  it  had  already  settled  in  secret 
conclave.  Its  opponents  did  not  know  how  to 
wage  war  against  it,  because  they  did  not  know  who 
were  their  friends.  If  a  meeting  was  called  to  ex- 
pose and  denounce  its  schemes,  it  was  drowned  in 
the  Know- Nothing  flood  which,  at  the  appointed 
time,  completely  overwhelmed  the  helpless  minor- 
ity. This  happened  in  my  own  county  and  town, 
where  thousands  of  men,  including  many  of  my  old 
Free  Soil  brethren,  assembled  as  an  organized  mob 
to  suppress  the  freedom  of  speech ;  and  they  suc- 
ceeded by  brute  force  in  taking  possession  of  every 
building  in  which  their  opponents  could  meet,  and 
silencing  them  by  savage  yells.  At  one  time  I 
think  I  had  less  than  a  dozen  political  friends  in 
the  State,  and  I  could  see  in  the  glad  smile  which 
lighted  up  the  faces  of  my  old  time  enemies  that 
they  considered  me  beyond  the  reach  of  political 
resurrection.  But  I  never  for  a  moment  intermitted 
my  warfare,  or  doubted  that  in  the  end  the  truth 
would  be  vindicated,  although  I  did  not  dream  that 
in  less  than  two  years  I  would  be  the  recognized 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  143 

leader  of  the  men  composing  this  mob,  who  would 
be  found  denying  their  membership  of  this  secret 
order,  or  confessing  it  with  shame.  It  was  a 
strange  dispensation ;  and  no  record  of  independ- 
ent journalism  was  ever  more  honorable  than  that 
of  the  "  New  York  Tribune  "  and  "  National  Era," 
during  their  heroic  and  self-sacrificing  fight  against 
this  organized  scheme  of  bigotry  and  proscription, 
which  can  only  be  remembered  as  the  crowm'ng 
and  indelible  shame  of  our  politics.  It  admits  of 
neither  defense  nor  palliation,  and  I  am  sorry  to 
find  Henry  Wilson's  "  History  of  the  Rise  and  Fall 
of  the  Slave  Power"  disfigured  by  his  elaborate 
efforts  to  whitewash  it  into  respectability,  and  give 
it  a  decent  place  in  the  records  of  the  past. 

Such  were  the  elements  which  mingled  and  com- 
mingled in  the  political  ferment  of  1854,  and  out 
of  which  an  anti-slavery  party  was  to  be  evolved 
capable  of  trying  conclusions  with  the  perfectly 
disciplined  power  of  slavery.  The  problem  was 
exceedingly  difficult,  and  could  not  be  solved  in  a 
day.  The  necessary  conditions  of  progress  could 
not  be  slighted,  and  the  element  of  time  must  neces- 
sarily be  a  large  one  in  the  grand  movement  which 
was  to  come.  The  dispersion  of  the  old  parties 
was  one  thing,  but  the  organization  of  their  frag- 
ments into  a  new  one  on  a  just  basis  was  quite  a 
different  thing.  The  honor  of  taking  the  first  step 
in  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party  belongs  to 
Michigan,  where  the  Whigs  and  Free  Soilers  met 


144  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  State  convention  on  the  sixth  of  July,  formed  a 
complete  fusion  into  one  party,  and  adopted  the 
name  Republican.  This  action  was  followed  soon 
after  by  like  movements  in  the  States  of  Wisconsin 
and  Vermont.  In  Indiana  a  State  "fusion"  con- 
vention was  held  on  the  thirteenth  of  July,  which 
adopted  a  platform,  nominated  a  ticket,  and  called 
the  new  movement  the  "  People's  Party."  The 
platform,  however,  was  narrow  and  equivocal,  and 
the  ticket  nominated  had  been  agreed  on  the  day 
before  by  the  Know-Nothings,  in  secret  conclave, 
as  the  outside  world  afterward  learned.  The  ticket 
was  elected,  but  it  was  done  by  combining  opposite 
and  irreconcilable  elements,  and  was  not  only 
barren  of  good  fruits  but  prolific  of  bad  OIK •-;, 
through  its  demoralizing  example ;  for  the  same 
dishonest  game  was  attempted  the  year  following, 
and  was  overwhelmingly  defeated  by  the  Demo- 
crats. In  New  York  the  Whigs  refused  to  disband, 
and  the  attempt  to  form  a  new  party  failed.  The 
same  was  true  of  Massachusetts  and  Ohio.  The 
latter  State,  however,  in  1855,  fell  into  the  Repub- 
lican column,  and  nominated  Mr.  Chase  for  Gov- 
ernor, who  was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  A 
Republican  movement  was  attempted  this  year  in 
Massachusetts,  where  conservative  Whiggery  and 
Know-Nothingism  blocked  the  way  of  progress,  as 
they  did  also  in  the  State  of  New  York.  In  No- 
vember of  the  year  1854  the  Know-Nothing  party 
held  a  National  Convention  in  Cincinnati,  in  which 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  145 

the  hand  of  slavery  was  clearly  revealed,  and  the 
"  Third  Degree,"  or  pro-slavery  obligation  of  the 
order,  was  adopted ;  and  it  was  estimated  that  at 
least  a  million  and  a  half  of  men  afterward  bound 
themselves  by  this  obligation.  In  June  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  another  National  Convention  of  the 
order  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  and  at  this  conven- 
tion the  party  was  finally  disrupted  on  the  issue  of 
slavery,  and  its  errand  of  mischief  henceforward 
prosecuted  by  fragmentary  and  irregular  methods; 
but  even  the  Northern  wing  of  this  Order  was  un- 
trustworthy on  the  slavery  issue,  having  proposed, 
as  a  condition  of  union,  to  limit  its  anti-slavery 
demand  to  the  restoration  of  the  Missouri  restric- 
tion and  the  admission  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  as 
free  States. 

Indeed,  the  outlook  as  to  the  formation  of  a 
triumphant  anti-slavery  party  was  not  so  promising 
towards  the  close  of  the  year  1855  as  it  had  seemed 
in  the  spring  of  the  preceding  year.  If  the  Free 
Soilers  had  been  clear-sighted  enough  to  distin- 
guish between  that  which  was  transient  and  that 
which  was  permanent  in  the  forces  which  had 
roused  the  people  of  the  free  States,  and,  availing 
themselves  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  restriction 
as  a  God-send  to  their  cause,  had  summoned  the 
manhood  of  the  country  to  their  help,  a  powerful 
impulse  would  have  been  given  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. But  in  the  general  confusion  and  bewilder- 
ment of  the  times  many  of  them  lost  their  way,  and 
10 


.'//<•//. 


were  found  mustering  with  the  mongrel  hordes  of 
Know-Nothingism,  and  under  captains  who  were 
utterly  unworthy  to  lead  them.  Instead  of  inflex- 
ibly maintaining  their  ground  and  beckoning  the 
people  to  come  up  and  possess  it,  they  meanly  de- 
serted it  themselves,  while  vainly  expecting  others 
to  occupy  it.  The  Whigs  were  totally  powerless 
to  render  any  service  without  first  disbanding  their 
party,  and  this,  in  many  localities,  they  declined  to 
do.  Both  wings  of  the  Know-Nothing  movement 
were  organized  obstacles  to  the  formation  of  a  new 
party,  while  the  bolters  from  the  Democrats  were 
as  unprepared  for  radical  anti-slavery  work  as  the 
Whigs  or  Know-Nothings.  But  notwithstanding 
all  these  drawbacks,  real  progress  had  been  made. 
In  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress,  Wilson,  Foster, 
I  I.irlan,  Trumbull,  and  Durkee  were  chosen  sena- 
tors. In  the  House  were  Burlingame,  Buffington, 
Hanks,  Hickman,  Grow,  Covode,  Sherman,  Bliss, 
Galloway.  Bingham,  Harlan,  Stanton,  Colfax, 
Washburn,  and  many  others.  These  were  great 
gains,  and  clearly  pointed  to  still  larger  accessions, 
and  the  final  subordination  of  minor  issues  to  the 
grand  one  on  which  the  people  of  the  free  States 
were  to  take  their  stand.  An  unprecedented  strug- 
gle for  the  Speakership  began  with  the  opening  of 
the  Thirty-fourth  Congress,  and  lasted  till  the  sec- 
ond day  of  February,  when  the  free  States  finally 
achieved  their  first  victory  in  the  election  of  Banks. 
Northern  manhood  at  last  was  at  a  premium,  and 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  147 

this  was  largely  the  fruit  of  the  "  border  ruffian  " 
attempts  to  make  Kansas  a  slave  State,  which  had 
stirred  the  blood  of  the  people  during  the  year  185  5. 
In  the  meantime,  the  arbitrary  enforcement  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act  still  further  contributed  to  the 
growth  of  an  anti-slavery  opinion.  The  famous 
case  of  Anthony  Burns  in  Boston,  the  prosecution 
of  S.  M.  Booth  in  Wisconsin,  and  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State,  the  imprisonment 
of  Passmore  Williamson  in  Philadelphia,  and  the 
outrageous  rulings  of  Judge  Kane,  and  the  case  of 
Margaret  Garner  in  Ohio,  all  played  their  part  in 
preparing  the  people  of  the  free  States  for  organ- 
ized political  action  against  the  aggressions  of 
slavery. 

Near  the  close  of  the  year  1855,  the  chairmen 
of  the  Republican  State  Committees  of  Ohio,  Mas- 
sachusetts, Pennsylvania,  Vermont,  and  Wisconsin, 
issued  a  call  for  a  National  Republican  Conven- 
tion to  be  held  at  Pittsburg,  on  the  22d  of  Febru- 
ary, 1856,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  National 
Republican  party,  and  making  provision  for  a  sub- 
sequent convention  to  nominate  candidates  for 
President  and  Vice  President.  It  was  very  largely 
attended,  and  bore  witness  to  the  spirit  and  courage 
which  the  desperate  measures  of  the  slave  oli- 
garchy had  awakened  throughout  the  Northern 
States.  All  the  free  States  were  represented,  and 
eight  of  the  slave-holding,  namely:  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Tennessee, 


148  POLITICAL  KECOLLECT1ONS. 

North  Carolina,  and  Texas.  The  convention  as- 
sembled in  Lafayette  Hall,  and  the  Hon  John  A. 
King,  of  New  York,  a  son  of  Rufus  King,  was 
made  temporary  chairman,  and  Francis  P.  Blair, 
of  Maryland,  the  intimate  friend  of  President 
Jackson,  was  made  its  permanent  president.  He 
was  most  enthusiastically  greeted  on  taking  the 
chair,  and  began  his  address  with  the  remark  that 
this  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  been  called  on 
to  make  a  speech.  His  views  were  too  conserva- 
tive in  tone  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  crisis, 
but  he  was  most  cordially  welcomed  as  a  distin- 
guished delegate  from  a  slave  State.  The  conven- 
tion was  opened  by  a  prayer  from  Owen  Lovejoy, 
and  there  was  a  suppressed  murmur  of  applause 
when  he  asked  God  to  enlighten  the  mind  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  turn  him  from 
his  evil  ways,  and  if  this  was  not  possible,  to  take 
him  away,  so  that  an  honest  and  God-fearing  man 
might  fill  his  place.  Horace  Greeley  was  seen  in 
the  audience,  and  was  loudly  and  unitedly  called 
on  for  a  speech.  He  spoke  briefly,  saying  that  he 
had  been  in  Washington  several  weeks,  and  friends 
there  "counseled  extreme  caution  in  our  move- 
ments." This  was  the  burden  of  his  exhortation. 
At  the  close  of  his  remarks  Mr.  Giddings  was 
tumultuously  called  for,  and  responded  by  saying 
that  Washington  was  the  last  place  in  the  world  to 
look  for  counsel  or  redress,  and  related  an  anecdote 
of  two  pious  brothers  named  Joseph  and  John, 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  149 

who  in  early  times  had  begun  a  settlement  in  the 
West  Joseph  prayed  to  the  Lord  :  "  O,  Lord  ! 
we  have  begun  a  good  work ;  we  pray  thee  to 
carry  it  on  thus," — giving  specific  directions.  But 
John  prayed :  "  O,  Lord,  we  have  begun  a  good 
work ;  carry  it  on  as  you  think  best,  and  don't  mind 
what  Joe  says."  Mr.  Giddings  then  introduced 
the  Rev.  Owen  Lovejoy,  of  Illinois, — "  not  Joe, 
but  John."  Mr.  Lovejoy  delighted  the  audience, 
and  was  followed  by  Preston  King  and  other 
speakers ;  and  it  was  quite  manifest  that  this  was 
a  Republican  convention,  and  not  a  mere  aggre- 
gation of  Whigs,  Know-Nothings,  and  dissatisfied 
Democrats.  It  contained  a  considerable  Know- 
Nothing  element,  but  it  made  no  attempt  at  leader- 
ship, while  Cliarles  Remelin  and  other  speakers 
were  enthusiastically  applauded  when  they  de- 
nounced Know-Nothingism  as  a  mischievous  side 
issue  in  our  politics,  which  the  new  movement 
should  openly  repudiate.  The  convention  was  in 
session  ttvo  days,  and  was  singularly  harmonious 
throughout.  Its  resolutions  and  address  to  the 
people  did  not  fitly  echo  the  feeling  and  purpose  of 
its  members,  but  this  was  a  preliminary  move- 
ment, and  it  was  evident  that  nothing  could  stay 
the  progress  of  the  cause.  As  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  organization,  I  had  the  honor  to  re- 
port the  plan  of  action  through  which  the  new 
party  took  life,  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a 
National  Executive  Committee,  the  holding  of  a 


150  POLITICAL  RECOLLECT10.\* 


National  Convention  in  Philadelphia  on  the  i/th 
of  June,  forihc  nomination  of  candidates  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice  President,  and  the  organization  of 
the  party  in  counties  and  districts  throughout  the 
States. 

The  Philadelphia  convention  was  very  large,  and 
marked  by  unbounded  enthusiasm.  The  spirit  of 
liberty  was  up,  and  side  issues  forgotten.  If  Know- 
Nothingism  was  present,  it  prudently  accepted  an 
attitude  of  subordination.  The  platform  reasserted 
the  self-evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  denied  that  Congress,  the  people  of 
a  Territory,  or  any  other  authority,  could  give 
legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any  Territory  of  the 
United  States.  It  asserted  the  sovereign  power 
of  Congress  over  the  Territories,  and  its  right  and 
duty  to  prohibit  it  therein.  Know-Nothingism  re- 
ceived no  recognition,  and  the  double-faced  issue 
of  the  restoration  of  the  Missouri  compromise  was 
disowned,  while  the  freedom  of  Kansas  was  dealt 
with  as  a  mere  incident  of  the  conflict  between 
liberty  and  slavery.  On  this  broad  platform  John 
C.  Fremont  was  nominated  for  President  on  the 
first  ballot,  and  Wm.  L.  Dayton  was  unanimously 
nominated  for  Vice  President.  The  National  Re- 
publican party  was  thus  splendidly  launched,  and 
nothing  seemed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  its  triumph 
but  the  mischievous  action  of  the  Know-Nothing 
party,  and  a  surviving  faction  of  pro- slavery  Whigs. 
The  former  party  met  in  National  Convention  in 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  \  5  I 


Philadelphia,  on  the  twenty-second  of  February, 
and  nominated  Millard  Fillmore  for  President  and 
Andrew  J.  Donelson  for  Vice  President.  Some 
bolters  from  this  convention  subsequently  nomi- 
nated Nathaniel  P.  Banks  and  William  F.  Johnson 
as  their  candidates,  and  a  remnant  of  the  Whig; 

O 

party  held  a  convention  in  Baltimore  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  September,  and  endorsed  Fillmore  and 
Donelson  ;  but  a  dissatisfied  portion  of  the  conven- 
tion afterward  nominated  Commodore  Stockton 
and  Kenneth  Raynor.  All  these  factions  were  des- 
tined soon  to  political  extinction,  but  in  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight  with  the  slave  power  they  yet  formed  a 
considerable  obstacle  to  that  union  and  harmony 
in  the  free  States  which  were  necessary  to  suc- 
cess. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  at 
Cincinnati  on  the  second  of  June.  The  candidates 
were  Buchanan,  Pierce,  and  Douglas.  On  the 
seventeenth  ballot  Buchanan  was  unanimously 
nominated  for  President,  and  on  the  second  ballot 
John  C.  Breckenridge  was  nominated  for  Vice 
President.  The  platform  re  affirmed  the  action 
of  Congress  respecting  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri compromise  and  the  compromises  of  1850, 
and  recognized  the  right  of  the  people  of  all  the 
Territories,  including  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  when- 
ever the  number  of  their  inhabitants  justified  it,  to 
form  a  Constitution  with  or  without  domestic  slav- 
ery, and  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  upon  terms 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


of  equality  with  the  other  States.  These  declara- 
tions, coupled  with  the  express  denial  to  Congress 
of  the  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  Territo- 
ries, were  accepted  as  satisfactory  to  the  South,  and 
were  fairly  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  people  of 
the  Territories,  pending  their  territorial  condition, 
had  no  power  to  exclude  slavery  therefrom.  In 
Mr. 'Buchanan's  letter  of  acceptance  he  completely 
buried  his  personality  in  the  platform,  and  Albert 
G.  Brown  of  Mississippi,  and  Governor  Wise  of  Vir- 
ginia, pronounced  him  as  true  to  the  South  as  Mr. 
Calhoun  himself.  These  were  the  tickets  for  1856, 
but  the  real  contest  was  between  Buchanan  and 
Fremont.  It  was  pre-eminently  a  conflict  of  prin- 
ciples. The  issues  could  hardly  have  been  better 
defined,  and  they  were  vital.  It  was  a  struggle 
between  two  civilizations,  between  reason  and 
brute  force,  between  the  principles  of  Democracy 
and  the  creed  of  Absolutism;  and  the  case  was 
argued  with  a  force,  earnestness,  and  fervor,  never 
before  known.  No  Presidential  contest  had  ever 
so  touched  the  popular  heart,  or  so  lifted  up  and 
ennobled  the  people  by  the  contagion  of  a  great 
and  pervading  moral  enthusiasm.  The  campaign 
for  Buchanan,  however,  was  not  particularly  ani- 
mated, at  least  in  the  Northern  States.  It  illus- 
trated the  power  of  party  machinery,  and  the  des- 
perate purpose  to  press  forward  along  a  path  which 
had  been  followed  too  far  to  call  a  halt.  It  was  a 
struggle  for  party  ascendancy  by  continual  and 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY.  .    153 

most  humiliating  concessions  to  the  ever-multiply- 
ing demands  of  slavery  ;  and  the  ardor  of  the  strug- 
gle must  have  been  cooled  by  many  troublesome 
misgivings  as  to  the  final  effect  of  these  conces- 
sions, and  the  policy  of  purchasing  a  victory  at 
such  a  price. 

The  excitement  of  the  canvass  was  aggravated  by 
very  exasperating  circumstances.  The  brutal  and 
cowardly  assault  of  Brooks  upon  Sumner  was  the 
counterpart  of  border  ruffianism  in  Kansas,  and 
perhaps  did  more  to  stir  the  blood  of  the  people  of 
the  Northern  States  than  any  of  the  wholesale  out- 
rages thus  far  perpetrated  in  that  distant  border. 
These  outrages,  however,  were  now  multiplied  in 
all  directions,  and  took  on  new  shapes.  They  were 
legislative,  executive,  and  judicial,  cropping  out 
in  private  pillage  and  assassination,  in  organized 
marauding  and  murder,  and  in  armed  violence ; 
and  these  horrid  demonstrations  enlivened  the  can- 
vass to  the  end.  Republican  enthusiasm  reached 
its  white  heat,  borrowing  the  self-forgetting  devo- 
tion and  dedicated  zeal  of  a  religious  conversion. 
Banks  and  tariffs  and  methods  of  administration 
were  completely  forgotten,  while  thousands  of 
Democrats  who  had  been  trained  in  the  school  of 
slavery,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  conservative 
Whigs,  caught  the  spirit  of  liberty  which  animated 
the  followers  of  Fremont  and  Dayton.  The  can- 
vass had  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  American 
politics.  No  such  mass- meetings  had  ever  assem- 


154  POLITICALS  C1IONS. 

bled.  They  were  not  only  immense  in  numbers, 
but  seemed  to  come  together  spontaneously,  and 
wholly  independent  of  machinery.  The  proces- 
sions, banners,  and  devices  were  admirable  in  all 
their  appointments,  and  no  political  campaign  had 
ever  been  inspired  by  such  charming  and  soul-stir- 
ring music,  or  cheered  by  such  a  following  of 
orderly,  intelligent,  conscientious  and  thoroughly 
devoted  men  and  women.  To  me  the  memory  of 
this  first  great  national  struggle  for  liberty  is  a 
delight,  as  the  part  I  played  in  it  was  a  real  jubi- 
lee of  the  heart.  I  was  welcomed  by  the  Repub- 
lican masses  everywhere,  and  the  fact  was  as  grati- 
fying to  me  as  it  proved  mortifying  to  the  party 
chiefs  who,  a  little  while  before,  had  found  such 
comfort  in  the  assurance  that  henceforward  they 
were  rid  of  me.  With  many  wry  faces  they  sub- 
mitted, after  all  sorts  of  manoeuvers  early  in  the 
canvass  to  keep  me  in  the  background,  varied  by 
occasional  threats  to  drive  me  out  of  the  party. 
As  their  own  party  standing  became  somewhat 
precarious  they  completely  changed  their  base,  and 
often  amused  the  public  by  super-serviceable  dis- 
plays of  their  personal  friendship.  Even  the  ring- 
leader of  the  Know-Nothing  mob  of  two  years 
before,  standing  up  to  his  full  height  of  "  six  feet 
six,"  used  to  introduce  me  at  mass-meetings  as 
"  Your  honored  representative  in  Congress,  and 
war-worn  veteran  in  the  cause  of  liberty." 

But    Buchanan  triumphed.     The  baleful    inter- 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PAR  TY.  155 

position  of  Know-Nothingism  stood  in  the  way  of 
that  union  of  forces  which  the  situation  demanded, 
and  was  thus  chiefly  responsible  for  the  Republican 
defeat.  The  old  Whigs  who  had  so  recently 
stepped  from  their  "  finality  "  platform,  could  not 
be  unitedly  rallied,  and  the  Democratic  bolters 
were  only  half  converted.  In  my  own  State  the 
opposition  to  the  Democracy  repudiated  even  the 
name  Republican, and  entered  the  field  as  "  the  Peo- 
ple's party."  It  was  a  combination  of  weaknesses, 
instead  of  a  union  of  forces.  All  the  Fillmore 
Know-Nothings  and  Silver-Grey  Whigs  of  the 
State  were  recognized  as  brethren.  At  least  one 
man  on  the  State  ticket,  of  which  Oliver  P.  Morton 
was  the  head,  was  a  Fillmore  man,  while  both  Fill- 
more  and  anti-Fillmore  men  had  been  chosen  as 
delegates  to  Philadelphia  and  electors  for  the  State. 
The  political  managers  even  went  so  far  as  to  sup- 
press their  own  electoral  ticket  during  the  canvass, 
as  a  peace-offering  to  old  Whiggery  and  Know- 
Nothincfism,  while  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a 

o  *  • 

free  State  was  dealt  with  as  the  sole  issue,  and 
border  ruffian  outrages  and  elaborate  disclaimers 
of  "  abolitionism  "  were  the  regular  staple  of  our 
orators,  who  openly  declared  that  the  Republican 
party  was  a  "white  man's  party."  Anti-slavery 
speakers  like  Clay  and  Burlingame  were  studiously 
kept  out  of  Southern  Indiana,  where  the  teach- 
ings ofRepublicanism  were  especially  needed,  and 
Richard  W.Thompson,  then  the  professed  champion 


156  IT1CAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  Fill  more,  but  in  reality  the  stipendiary  of  the 
Democrats,  traversed  that  region  on  the  stump,  de- 
nounced the  Republicans  as  "  Abolitionists,"  "  dis- 
unionists,"  and  "  incendiaries,"  and  was  everywhere 
unchallenged  in  his  course.  Similar  tactics,  though 
not  so  deplorably  despicable,  prevailed  in  several 
of  the  other  States,  giving  unmistakable  evidence 
of  the  need  of  a  still  further  and  more  thorough 
enlightenment  of  the  people  as  to  the  spirit  and 
aims  of  slavery.  In  the  light  of  these  facts,  I  was 
not  at  all  cast  down  by  the  defeat  of  Fremont.  He 
was  known  as  an  explorer,  and  not  as  a  statesman. 
If  he  had  succeeded,  with  mere  pofiticians  in  his 
cabinet,  a  Congress  against  him,  and  only  a  par- 
tially developed  anti-slavery  sentiment  behind  him, 
the  cause  of  freedom  would  have  been  in  fearful 
peril.  The  revolution  so  hopefully  begun  might 
have  been  arrested  by  half-way  measures,  promot- 
ing the  slumber  rather  than  the  agitation  of  the 
truth,  while  the  irritating  nostrums  of  Buchanan 
Democracy,  so  necessary  to  display  the  abomina- 
tions of  slavery,  would  have  been  lost  to  us.  The 
moral  power  of  the  canvass  for  Fremont  was  itself 
a  great  gain,  notwithstanding  the  cowardice  of  some 
of  its  leaders.  The  Republican  movement  could 
not  now  go  backward,  and  with  a  probation  of  four 
years  to  prepare  for  the  next  conflict,  unembarrassed 
by  the  responsibilities  of  power,  and  free  to  profit 
by  the  blunders  and  misdeeds  of  its  foe,  it  was 
pretty  sure  of  a  triumph  in  1860.  Fremont  had 


THE  REPUBLICAN  PAR  TY.  157 

received  a  popular  vote  of  one  million  three  hun- 
dred and  forty-one  thousand  two  hundred  and 
sixty-four,  carrying  eleven  States  and  one  hundred 
and  fourteen  electoral  votes;  while  only  four  years 
before,  John  P.  Hale,  standing  on  substantially 
the  same  platform,  had  received  only  a  little  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  thousand,  and 
not  a  single  electoral  vote.  This  showed  a  mar- 
velous anti-slavery  progress,  considering  the  age 
of  the  movement,  the  elements  it  forced  into  com- 
bination, and  the  difficulties  under  which  it  strug- 
gled into  life ;  and  no  one  could  misinteroret  its 
significance. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PROGRESS    OF    REPUBLICANISM. 

The  Dred  Scott  decision — The  struggle  for  freedom  in  Kansas — 
Instructive  debates  in  Congress — Republican  gains  in  the 
Thirty-fifth  Congress — The  English  bill— Its  defeat  and  the 
effect — Defection  of  Pmiijlas — Its  advantages  and  its  perils 
— Strange  course  of  the  New  York  Tribune  and  other  Repub- 
lican papers — Republican  retreat  in  Indiana — Illinois  Re- 
publicans stand  firm,  and  hold  the  party  to  its  position — 
Gains  in  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress — Southern  barbarism  and 
extravagance — John  Brown's  raid — Cuba  and  the  slave 
trade — Oregon  and  Kansas — Aids  to  anti-slavery  progress — 
The  Speakership  and  Helper's  book — Southern  insolence  and 
extravagance — Degradation  of  Douglas — Slave  code  for  the 
Territories — Outrages  in  the  South — Campaign  of  1860— 
Charleston  convention  and  division  of  the  Democrats — 
Madness  of  the  faction* — Bell  and  Everett — Republican 
National  Convention  and  its  platform — Lincoln  and  Seward 
— Canvass  of  Douglas — The  campaign  for  Lincoln — Con- 
duct of  Seward — Republican  concessions  and  slave-holding 
madness. 

THE  Republicans,  however,  were  sorely  disap- 
pointed by  their  defeat ;  but  this  second  great  vic- 
tory of  slavery  did  not  at  all  check  the  progress  of 
the  anti-slavery  cause.  It  had  constantly  gathered 
strength  from  the  audacity  and  recklessness  of 
slave-holding  fanaticism,  and  it  continued  to  do  so. 
On  the  6th  of  March,  1857,  the  Supreme  Court  of 
(158) 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  159 

the  United  States  harnessed  itself  to  the  car  of 
slavery  by  its  memorable  decision  in  the  case  of 
Dred  Scott,  affirming  that  Congress  had  no  power 
to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories,  and,  inferen- 
tially,  that  the  Constitution  carried  with  it  the  right 
to  hold  slaves  there,  even  against  the  will  of  their 
people.  The  point  was  not  before  the  court,  and 
the  opinion  of  Chief  Justice  Taney  was  therefore 
purely  extra-judicial.  It  was  simply  a  political 
harangue  in  defense  of  slavery.  It  created  a  pro- 
found impression  throughout  the  free  States,  and 
became  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of  Repub- 
licans. It  was  against  the  whole  current  of  ad- 
judications on  the  subject,  and  they  denounced  it 
as  a  vile  caricature  of  American  jurisprudence. 
They  characterized  it  as  the  distilled  diabolism  of 
two  hundred  years  of  slavery,  stealthily  aiming 
at  the  overthrow  of  our  Republican  institutions, 
while  seeking  to  hide  its  nakedness  under  the  fig- 
leaves  of  judicial  fairness  and  dignity.  They  brand- 
ed it  as  the  desperate  attempt  of  slave-breeding 
Democracy  to  crown  itself  king,  by  debauching  the 
Federal  judiciary  and  waging  war  against  the  ad- 
vance of  civilization.  Their  denunciations  of  the 
Chief  Justice  were  unsparing  and  remorseless  ;  and 
they  described  him  as  "  pouring  out  the  hoarded 
villainies  of  a  life-time  into  a  political  opinion 
which  he  tried  to  coin  into  law."  When  Senator 
Douglas  sought  to  ridicule  their  clamor  by  in- 
quiring whether  they  would  take  an  appeal  from 


160  POL  11 1C M.  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  a  town 
meeting,  they  answered  :  "  Yes,  we  appeal  from 
the  court  to  the  people,  who  made  the  Constitution, 
and  have  the  right,  as  the  tribunal  of  last  resort,  to 
define  its  meaning."  Nothing  could  more  clearly 
have  marked  the  degradation  to  which  the  power 
of  slavery  had  reduced  the  country  than  this  de- 
cision, and  no  other  single  event  could  have  so 
prepared  the  people  for  resistance  to  its  aggres- 
sions. It  was  thoroughly  cold-blooded  in  its  letter 
and  spirit,  and  no  Spanish  Inquisitor  ever  showed 
less  sympathy  for  his  victim  than  did  the  Chief 
Justice  for  the  slave. 

But  the  Dred  Scott  iniquity  did  not  stand  alone. 
It  had  been  procured  for  the  purpose  of  fastening 
slavery  upon  all  the  Territories,  and  it  had,  of 
course,  a  special  meaning  when  applied  to  the 
desperate  struggle  then  in  progress  to  make 
Kansas  a  slave  State.  The  conduct  of  the  Ad- 
ministration during  this  year,  in  its  treatment  of 
the  free  State  men  of  that  Territory,  forms  one  of 
the  blackest  pages  in  the  history  of  slavery.  The 
facts  respecting  their  labors,  trials,  and  sufferings. 
and  the  methods  employed  to  force  upon  them  the 
Lecompton  Constitution,  including  wholesale  bal- 
lot-stuffing and  every  form  of  ruffianism,  pillage, 
and  murder,  need  not  be  recited  ;  but  all  these  were 
but  the  outcroppings  and  counterpart  of  the  Dred 
Scott  decision,  and  the  horrid  travesty  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  popular  sovereignty  in  the  Territories. 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  i6l 

The  whole  power  of  the  Administration,  acting  as 
the  hired  man  of  slavery,  was  ruthlessly  employed 
for  the  purpose  of  spreading  the  curse  over  Kan- 
sas, and  establishing  it  there  as  an  irreversible 
fact ;  and  all  the  departments  of  the  Government 
now  stood  as  a  unit  on  the  side  of  this  devilish 
conspiracy.  Everybody  knew  that  the  Lecompton 
Constitution  was  the  work  of  outside  ruffians,  and 
not  of  the  people  of  the  Territory,  whose  Legislature 
in  February,  1858,  solemnly  protested  against  their 
admission  under  that  Constitution,  and  whose  pro- 
test was  totally  unheeded.  The  Congressional  de- 
bates during  this  period  greatly  contributed  to  the 
anti-slavery  education  of  the  people,  by  more 
clearly  unmasking  the  real  spirit  and  designs  of 
the  slaveholders.  We  were  treated  to  the  kind 
of  talk  then  becoming  current  about  "  Northern 
mud-sills,"  "  filthy  operatives,"  the  "  ownership  of 
labor  by  capital,"  and  the  beauties  and  beatitudes 
of  slavery.  Such  maddened  extremists  as  Ham- 
mond and  Keitt  of  South  Carolina,  and  such 
blatant  doughfaces  as  Petit  of  Indiana,  became 
capital  missionaries  in  the  cause  of  freedom.  Their 
words  were  caught  up  by  the  press  of  the  free 
States,  and  added  their  beneficent  help  to  the  work 
so  splendidly  going  forward  through  the  providen- 
tial agency  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

In  the  meantime,  freedom  had  made  large  gains 
in  the  composition  of  the  Thirty-fifth    Congress, 
which  now  had    charge  of  the    Lecompton  swin- 
11 


1 62  POLITICAL  /  C1IONS. 

die.  The  Senate  contained  twenty  Republican 
members  and  the  House  ninety-two.  K.m^.is  had 
not  been  forced  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State, 
but  she  was  helpless  at  the  feet  of  the  Executive-. 
In  the  midst  of  the  angry  debate  a  new  proposition 
was  brought  forward,  on  the  twenty-third  of  April. 
which  was  even  more  detestable  than  the  Lecomp- 
ton  bill  itself.  This  was  known  as  the  "  English 
bill,"  which  offered  Kansas  a  very  large  and  tempt- 
ing land  grant,  if  she  would  come  into  the  Union 
under,  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  but  provided 
that  if  she  voted  to  reject  the  land  grant  she  should 
neither  receive  the  land  nor  be  admitted  as  a  State 
until  the  Territory  acquired  a  population  sufficient 
to  elect  a  representative  to  the  House.  The  in- 
famy of  this  proposition  was  heightened  by  the  fact 
that  these  long-suffering  pioneers,  weary  and  har- 
assed by  their  protracted  struggle  and  longing  for 
peace,  were  naturally  tempted  to  purchase  it  at  any 
price.  It  was  a  proposition  of  gigantic  bribery, 
after  bluster  and  bullying  had  been  exhausted.  It 
was,  in  fact,  both  a  bribe  and  a  menace,  and  meas- 
ured at  once  the  political  morality  of  the  men  who 
favored  it,  and  the  extremity  to  which  the  slave- 
holders were  driven  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
desperate  enterprise.  After  a  protracted  debate  in 
both  Houses,  and  at  the  end  of  a  struggle  of  five 
months,  the  bill  was  passed  and  received  the  Ex- 
ecutive approval ;  but  the  rejoicing  of  the  slave- 
holders and  their  allies  was  short-lived.  The  peo- 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  163 

pie  of  Kansas  were  not  in  the  market.  They  had 
suffered  too  much  and  too  long  in  the  battle  for 
freedom  to  make  merchandise  of  their  convictions 
and  sacrifice  the  future  of  a  great  commonwealth. 
They  spurned  the  bribe,  and  took  the  chances  of 
triumph  through  an  indefinitely  prolonged  conflict, 
while  recruits  to  the  ranks  of  freedom  were  natu- 
rally falling  into  line  throughout  the  Northern 
States. 

In  December  of  this  year  I  attended  another 
fugitive  slave  case  at  Indianapolis.  The  claimant 
was  one  Vallandingham,  of  Kentucky,  whose  agent 
caught  the  alleged  fugitive  in  Illinois,  and  was 
passing  through  Indianapolis  on  his  way  home. 
The  counsel  for  the  negro,  Elsworth,  Coburn, 
Colley,  and  myself,  brought  the  case  before  Judge 
Wallace,  on  habeas  corpus,  and  had  him  discharged. 
The  claimant  immediately  had  him  arrested  and 
taken  before  Commissioner  Rea,  for  trial.  We 
asked  for  the  continuance  of  the  case  on  the  affi- 
davit of  the  negro  that  he  was  free,  and  could  prove 
it  if  allowed  three  weeks'  time  in  which  to  procure 
his  witnesses ;  but  the  Commissioner  ruled  that  the 
proceeding  was  a  summary  ex-parte  one,  and  that 
the  defendant  had  no  right  to  any  testimony.  Of 
course  we  were  forced  into  trial,  and  after  allowing 
secondary  proof  where  the  highest  was  attainable, 
and  permitting  hearsay  evidence  and  mere  rumor, 
the  Commissioner  granted  his  certificate  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  adjudged  fugitive.  We  again  brought 


l'   j  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  case  before  Judge  Wallace,  on  habeas  corpus, 
when  the  negro  denied  all  the  material  facts  of  the 
marshal's  return,  under  oath,  and  asked  to  be  al- 
lowed to  prove  his  denial ;  but  the  Judge  refused 
this,  and  he  was  handed  over  to  the  marshal  for 
transportation  South.  On  the  trial  he  was  shown 
to  have  been  free  by  the  act  of  his  master  in  send- 
ing him  into  a  free  State ;  but  under  cover  of  an 
infamous  law.  and  by  the  help  of  truculent  officials, 
he  was  remanded  into  slavery.  The  counsel  for 
the  negro,  with  a  dozen  or  more  who  joined  them, 
resolved  upon  one  further  effort  to  save  him.  The 
project  was  that  two  or  three  men  selected  for  the 
purpose  were  to  ask  of  the  jailer  the  privilege  of 
seeing  him  the  next  morning  and  giving  him  good- 
bye ;  and  while  one  of  the  party  engaged  the  jailer 
in  conversation,  the  negro  was  to  make  for  the 
door,  mount  a  horse  hitched  near  by,  and  effect 
his  escape.  The  enterprise  had  a  favorable  begin- 
ning. The  negro  got  out,  mounted  a  horse,  and 
might  have  escaped  if  he  had  been  a  good  horse- 
man ;  but  he  was  awkward  and  clumsy,  and  unfor- 
tunately mounted  the  wrong  horse,  and  a  very  poor 
traveler ;  and  when  he  saw  the  jailer  in  pursuit, 
and  heard  the  report  of  his  revolver,  he  surrendered, 
and  was  at  once  escorted  South.  Walpole  and  his 
brother  were  for  the  claimant.  This  is  the  only 
felony  in  which  I  was  ever  involved,  but  none  of 
the  parties  to  it  had  any  disposition  whatever  to 
confess  it  at  the  time. 


PR  O  GRESS  OF  REPUBL ICANISM.  \  6  5 

The  Republican  party  gathered  fresh  courage 
and  strength  in  the  year  1858  from  the  defection  of 
Douglas.  His  unmistakable  ability  and  hitherto 
unquestioned  devotion  to  slavery  had  singled  him 
out  as  the  great  leader  and  coming  man  of  his 
party.  He  was  ambitious,  and  by  no  means  scru- 
pulous in  his  political  methods.  The  moral  char- 
acter of  slavery  gave  him  not  the  slightest  concern, 
ostentatiously  declaring  that  he  did  not  care  whether 
it  was  "  voted  up  or  voted  down"  in  the  Territories, 
and  always  lavishing  his  contempt  upon  the  negro. 
He  was  the  great  champion  of  popular  sovereignty, 
but  at  the  same  time  fully  committed  himself  to 
the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  whatever  it  might  be  ;  and  after  that  decis- 
ion had  been  given,  and,  in  effect,  against  his  par- 
ticular hobby,  he  defended  it,  while  vainly  striving 
to  vindicate  his  consistency.  But  the  Lecompton 
swindle  was  so  revolting  a  mockery  of  the  right 
of  the  people  of  Kansas,  that  his  own  Democratic 
constituents  would  not  endorse  it,  and  he  was 
obliged,  contrary  to  his  strong  party  inclinations,  to 
take  his  stand  against  it.  It  was  an  event  of  very 
great  significance,  both  North  and  South,  and 
gave  great  comfort  to  anti-slavery  men  of  all  shades 
of  opinion ;  but  it  brought  with  it,  at  the  same 
time,  a  serious  peril  to  the  Republican  party. 

His  accession  to  the  Anti-Lecompton  ranks  was 
deemed  so  important  that  many  leading  Repub- 
licans, of  different  States,  thought  he  should 


166  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

be  welcomed  and  honored  by  the  withdrawal 
of  all  party  opposition  to  his  re-election  to  the 
Senate.  They  argued  that  in  no  other  way  could 
the  despotic  power  of  the  Democratic  party  be  so 
effectually  broken,  and  the  real  interests  of  re- 
publicanism advanced.  This  feeling,  for  a  time, 
prevailed  extensively,  and  threatened  to  put  in 
abeyance  or  completely  supersede  the  principles 
so  broadly  laid  down  in  the  national  platform  of 
1856.  The  "  New  York  Tribune  "  took  the  lead  in 
beating  this  retreat.  It  sympathised  with  Douglas 
to  the  end  of  his  canvass,  and  in  connection  with 
kindred  agencies  probably  saved  him  from  defeat. 
It  urged  the  disbanding  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  the  formation  of  a  new  combination  against 
the  Democrats,  composed  of  Republicans,  Doug- 
las Democrats,  Know-Nothings,  and  old  Whigs, 
but  without  the  avowal  of  any  principles.  It  pro- 
posed that  by  the  common  consent  of  these  parties 
the  Republicans  should  be  allowed  to  name  the 
next  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  the  other 
parties  the  candidate  for  the  Vice  Presidency ;  or 
that  this  proposition  should  be  reversed,  if  found 
advisable,  with  a  view  to  harmony.  The  different 
wings  of  this  combination  were  to  call  themselves 
by  such  names  and  proclaim  such  principles  in 
different  States  and  localities  as  might  seem  to 
them  most  conducive  to  local  success  and  united 
ascendancy.  This  abandonment  of  republicanism 
was  likewise  favored  by  such  papers  as  the  "  Cin- 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  167 

cinnati  Gazette,"  which  pronounced  the  policy  of 
Congressional  prohibition  worthless  as  a  means  of 
excluding  slavery  from  the  Territories,  and  openly 
committed  itself  to  the  admission  of  more  slave 
States,  whenever  demanded  by  a  popular  majority 
in  any  Territory.  "  The  Indianapolis  Journal  "  and 
other  leading  Republican  organs  spoke  of  Con- 
gressional prohibition  as  "  murdered  by  Dred 
Scott,"  and  as  having  no  longer  any  practical  value. 
In  the  spring  of  this  year  the  Republicans  of  In- 
diana, in  their  State  convention,  not  only  surren- 
dered the  policy  of  Congressional  prohibition,  and 
adopted  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  but 
made  opposition  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution 
the  sole  issue  of  the  canvass.  Under  such  leaders 
as  Oliver  P.  Morton  and  his  Whig  and  Know- 
Nothing  associates,  Republicanism  simply  meant 
opposition  to  the  latest  outrage  of  slavery,  and 
acquiescence  in  all  preceding  ones ;  but  this 
shameful  surrender  of  the  cause  to  its  enemies  was 
deservedly  condemned  in  the  election  which  fol- 
lowed. The  Legislature  of  the  State,  however, 
at  its  ensuing  session,  overwhelmingly  endorsed 
the  Douglas  dogma,  and  even  the  better  class  of 
Republican  papers  urged  the  abandonment  of  the 
Republican  creed.  But,  very  fortunately  for  the 
cause,  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  could  not  be 
persuaded  to  take  Mr.  Douglas  into  their  embrace 
on  the  score  of  a  single  worthy  act,  and  forget,  if 
not  forgive,  his  long  career  of  effective  and  un- 


/•< )/.  I  TIC  A  L  KECOLLECT10NS 


tiring  hostility  to  the  principles  they  cherished  ; 
and  his  nomination  by  the  Democrats,  on  a  plat- 
form very  offensive  to  Republicans,  fully  justified 
their  course.  The  result  was  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  candidate  for  the  succession  to 
Mr.  Douglas,  and  the  great  joint  debate  which 
did  so  much  to  educate  the  mind  of  the  free  States 
and  prepare  the  way  for  Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination 
the  following  year,  while  revealing  the  moral  un- 
worthiness  of  his  great  rival,  and  justifying  tlx 
policy  which  made  necessary  this  memorable  con- 
test in  Illinois. 

The  steady  march  of  the  Republican  party 
toward  ascendancy  was  shown  in  the  Thirty-sixth 
Congress,  which  met  in  December,  1859.  There 
were  now  twenty-four  Republican  senators,  and 
one  hundred  and  nine  representatives.  Early  in 
the  first  session  of  this  Congress  an  interesting  de- 
bate occurred  in  the  Senate  on  a  proposition  t<> 
provide  for  the  education  of  the  colored  children 
of  the  District  of  Columbia.  Mr.  Mason  con- 
demned the  proposition,  and  said  it  was  wise  to 
prohibit  the  education  of  the  colored  race.  Jefferson 
Davis  declared  that  the  Government  was  not  made 
for  them,  and  that  "  we  have  no  right  to  tax  our 
people  to  educate  the  barbarians  of  Africa."  These 
and  kindred  utterances  were  well  calculated  to  aid 
the  work  of  anti-slavery  progress.  John  Brown's 
raid  into  VirginiaJdndled  the  ire  of  the  slave- 
holders to  a  degree  as  yet  unprecedented,  and 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  169 

although  his  act  found  few  defenders  in  the  North- 
ern States,  the  heroism  with  which  he  met  his 
fate,  the  pithy  correspondence  between  Gov.  Wise 
and  Mrs.  Child,  the  language  of  Southern  senators 
in  dealing  with  the  subject,  and  the  efforts  made 
to  ferret  out  Brown's  associates,  all  tended  to 
strengthen  the  growing  hostility  to  slavery  and 
prepare  the  way  for  the  final  conflict.  The  designs 
of  the  slaveholders  upon  Cuba,  which  were  avowed 
in  this  Congress,  and  their  purpose  to  acquire  it  for 
the  extension  of  slavery,  by  purchase  if  they  could, 
but  if  not  by  war,  served  the  same  purpose.  The 
growing  demand  for  the  revival  of  the  African 
slave  trade,  as  shown  by  the  avowals  of  leading 
men  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  their  cold- 
blooded utterances  on  the  subject,  produced  a  pro- 
found impression  on  the  country,  and  called  forth 
the  startling  fact  that  the  city  of  New  York  was 
then  one  of  the  greatest  slave-trading  marts  in  the 
world,  and  that  from  thirty  to  sixty  thousand 
persons  a  year  were  taken  from  Africa  to  Cuba  by 
vessels  from  that  single  port.  Such  facts  as  these, 
and  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  for  the  suppression 
of  the  traffic  were  not  only  a  dead  letter  but  that 
the  slave  masters  and  their  allies  sullenly  refused 
to  take  any  steps  whatever  for  the  remedy  of  this 
organized  inhumanity,  were  capital  arguments  for 
the  Republicans,  which  they  employed  with  telling 
effect.  The  refusal  to  admit  $regon  as  a  State 
without  a  constitutional  provision  excluding  people 


170  POLITY 


of  color,  the  rejection  of  Kansas  on  her  application 
with  a  Constitution  fairly  adopted  by  her  people,  and 
the  great  speech  of  Sumner  on  "  The  Harharism  of 
Slaver>%"  which  this  last  application  called  forth, 
all  served  their  purpose  in  the  growth  of  anti- 
slavcry  opinion.  So  did  the  attempt  to  divide  Cal- 
ifornia for  the  purpose  of  introducing  slavery  into 
the  southern  portion ;  the  veto  of  an  Act  of  the 
Territorial  Legislature  of  Kansas  abolishing  slav- 
ery, and  of  a  similar  act  in  Nebraska ;  the  acts  of 
ral  Southern  States  permitting  free  colored 
persons  to  sell  themselves  as  slaves  if  they  ch<>-<- 
to  do  so  in  preference  to  expulsion  from  the  land 
of  their  birth  and  their  homes  ;  the  decision  of  the 
courts  of  Virginia  that  slaves  had  no  social  or  civil 
rights,  and  no  legal  capacity  to  choose  between 
being  emancipated  or  sold  as  slaves  ;  the  refusal  of 
the  Government  to  give  a  passport  to  a  colored 
physician  of  Massachusetts,  for  the  reason  that  such 
privileges  were  never  conferred  upon  persons  of 
color  ;  and  the  revolutionary  sentiments  uttered  by 
governors  and  legislatures  of  various  Southern 
States,  some  of  which  declared  that  the  election  of 
a  Republican  President  would  be  sufficient  cause  for 
withdrawal  from  the  Union.  That  these  were  im- 
portant aids  to  the  progress  of  freedom  \v:is  shown 
by  the  passage  of  laws  in  various  Northern  States 
for  the  protection  of  personal  liberty,  forbidding  the 
use  of  local  jails  for  the  detention  of  persons  claime 
as  fugitive  slaves,  and  securing  for  them  the  righ 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  171 

of  trial  by  jury  and  the  benefit  of  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.  This  healthy  reaction  was  still  further 
shown  in  wholesome  judicial  decisions  in  sev- 
eral Northern  States  affirming  the  citizenship  of 
negroes,  and  denying  the  right  of  transit  of  slave- 
holders with  their  slaves  over  their  soil. 

The  struggle  for  the  Speakership  in  this  Con- 
gress,, which  lasted  eight  weeks,  was  also  a  first-rate 
training  school  for  Republicanism.  Helper's  famous 
book,  "The  Impending  Crisis,"  had  made  a  decided 
sensation  throughout  the  country,  and  John  Sher- 
man, the  principal  candidate  of  the  Republicans 
for  Speaker,  had  endorsed  it,  though  he  now  denied 
the  fact.  Mr.  Millson  of  Virginia,  declared  that 
the  man  who  "  consciously,  deliberately,  and  of 
purpose,  lends  his  name  and  influence  to  the  propa- 
gation of  such  writings,  is  not  only  not  fit  to  be 
Speaker,  but  he  is  not  fit  to  live."  De  Jarnette,  of 
the  same  State,  said  that  Mr.  Seward  was  "  a  per- 
jured traitor,  whom  no  Southerner  could  consist- 
ently support  or  even  obey,  should  the  nation 
elect  him  President."  Mr.  Pryor  said  that  eight 
million  Southern  freemen  could  not  be  subjugated 
by  any  combination  whatever,  "  least  of  all  by  a 
miscellaneous  mob  of  crazy  fanatics  and  conscience- 
stricken  traitors."  Mr.  Kiett  said  that  "should 
the  Republican  party  succeed  in  the  next  Presi- 
dential election,  my  advice  to  the  South  is  to  snap 
the  cords  of  the  Union  at  once  and  forever."  Mr. 
Crawford  of  Georgia  said,  "  we  will  never  submit  to 


i;2  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  inauguration  of  a  black  Republican  President  "; 
and  these  and  like  utterances  were  applauded  by 
the  galleries.  The  growing  madness  and  despe- 
ration in  the  Senate  were  equally  noteworthy.  This 
was  shown  by  the  removal  of  Mr.  Douglas  from 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Territories, 
and  the  determined  purpose  to  read  him  out  of  the 
party  for  refusing  to  violate  the  principle  of  popular 
sovereignty  in  the  Territory  of  Kansas.  The 
attempt  to  hunt  down  a  man  who  had  done  the 
South  such  signal  service  in  dragooning  the  North- 
ern Democracy  into  its  support  could  not  fail  to 
divide  the  party,  and  at  the  same  time  completely 
unmask  the  extreme  and  startling  designs  which 
the  slave  power  had  been  stealthily  maturing.  But 
that  power  was  now  absolutely  bent  upon  its  pur- 
pose, and  morally  incapable  of  pausing  in  its  work. 
Its  demand  was  a  slave  code  for  the  Territories, 
and  it  would  accept  nothing  less.  Jefferson  Davis 
was  the  champion  of  this  policy,  which  he  em- 
bodied in  a  series  of  resolutions  and  made  them  the 
text  of  an  elaborate  argument ;  and  Mr.  Douglas 
replied  in  a  speech  which  at  once  vindicated  himself 
and  overwhelmingly  condemned  the  party  with 
which  he  had  so  long  acted.  The  resolutions,  how- 
ever, were  adopted  by  the  Senate,  which  thus  pro- 
claimed its  purpose  to  nationalize  slavery. 

In  the  meantime  these  remarkable  legislative  pro- 
ceedings had  their  counterpart  in  increasing  law- 
lessness and  violence  throughout  the  South.  This 


PROGRESS  OF- REPUBLICANISM.  173 

was  illustrated  in  such  facts  as  the  expulsion  of 
members  of  the  Methodist  Church  North  from 
Texas,  the  imprisonment  of  Rev.  Daniel  Worth,  in 
North  Carolina,  for  circulating  Helper's  "  Impend- 
ing Crisis  ";  the  exile  from  Kentucky  of  the  Rev. 
John  G.  Fee  and  his  colony  of  peaceable  and  law- 
abiding  people,  on  account  of  their  anti-slavery 
opinions  ;  and  the  espionage  of  the  mails  by  every 
Southern  postmaster,  who  under  local  laws  had 
the  power  to  condemn  and  "  burn  publicly  "  what- 
ever he  deemed  unfit  for  circulation,  which  laws 
had  been  pronounced  constitutional  by  Caleb 
Gushing,  while  Attorney  General  of  the  United 
States  under  Mr.  Pierce,  and  were  "  cheerfully 
acquiesced  in  "  by  Judge  Holt,  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral under  Buchanan.  In  Virginia  the  spirit  of 
lawlessness  became  such  a  rage  that  one  of  her 
leading  newspapers  offered  a  reward  of  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  head  of  Wm.  H.  Seward, 
while  another  paper  offered  ten  thousand  dollars 
for  the  kidnapping  and  delivery  in  Richmond  of 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  or  five  thousand  dollars  for 
his  head.  In  short,  the  reign  of  barbarism  was 
at  last  fully  ushered  in,  and  the  whole  nation  was 
beginning  to  realize  the  , truth  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
declaration,  which  he  borrowed  from  St.  Mark, 
that  "a  house  divided  against  itself  can  not 
stand."  The  people  of  the  free  States  were  at 
school,  with  the  slaveholders  as  their  masters; 
and  the  dullest  scholars  were  now  beginning  to  get 
their  lessons.  Even  the  Know-Nothings  and  Silver- 


174  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Grey  Whigs  were  coming  up  to  the  anxious  seat, 
under  the  enlightening  influence  and  saving-grace 
of  slaveholding  madness  and  crime.  The  hour 
was  ripe  for  action,  and  the  dawn  of  freedom  in 
the  South  was  seen  in  the  coming  emancipation  of 
the  North. 

The  Presidential  Campaign  of  1860  was  a  very 
ular  commentary  on  the  Compromise  measures 
of  1 850  and  the  "  finality"  platforms  of  1852.  The 
sectional  agitation  which  now  stirred  the  country 
outstripped  all  precedent,  and  completely  demon- 
strated the  folly  of  all  schemes  of  compromise. 
The  Democratic  National  Convention  met  in  the 
city  of  Charleston  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  May. 
Its  action  now  seems  astounding,  although  it  was 
the  inevitable  result  of  antecedent  facts.  The  Dem- 
ocratic party  had  the  control  of  every  depart- 
ment of  the  Government,  and  a  formidable  popular 
majority  behind  it.  It  had  the  complete  command 
of  its  own  fortunes,  and  there  was  no  cause  or  even 
excuse  for  the  division  which  threatened  its  life. 
The  difference  between  the  Southern  Democrats 
and  the  followers  of  Douglas  was  purely  metaphys- 
ical, eluding  entirely  the  practical  common  sense 
of  the  people.  Both  wings  of  the  party  now  stood 
committed  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  that  sur- 
rendered everything  which  the  extreme  men  of 
the  South  demanded.  It  was  "  a  quarrel  about 
goats'  wool,"  and  yet  the  Southern  Democrats 
were  maddened  at  the  thought  of  submitting  to 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  175 

the  nomination  of  Douglas  for  the  Presidency. 
His  sin  in  the  Lecompton  matter  was  counted  un- 
pardonable, and  they  seemed  to  hate  him  even  more 
intensely  than  they  hated  the  Abolitionists.  A 
committee  on  resolutions  was  appointed,  which  sub- 
mitted majority  and  minority,  or  Douglas  and 
anti-Douglas,  reports.  These  were  hotly  debated, 
but  the  Douglas  platform  was  adopted,  which  led 
to  the  secession  of  the  Southern  delegates.  On 
the  fifty- seventh  ballot  Mr.  Douglas  received  a 
clear  majority  of  the  Electoral  College,  but  the 
Convention  then  adjourned  till  the  eighteenth  of 
June,  in  the  hope  that  harmony  might  in  some  way 
be  restored.  On  reassembling  this  was  found  im- 
possible, and  the  balloting  was  resumed,  which 
finally  gave  Mr.  Douglas  all  the  votes  cast  but 
thirteen,  and  he  was  declared  the  Democratic  nom- 
inee. The  Convention  then  nominated  for  the 
Vice  Presidency  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  of  Georgia, 
a  disciple  of  Calhoun,  whose  extreme  opinions 
were  well  known.  He  was  unequivocally  com- 
mitted to  the  doctrine  that  neither  the  General 
Government  nor  a  Territorial  Government  can 
impair  the  right  of  slave  property  in  the  common 
Territories.  This  illustration  of  the  political  prof- 
ligacy of  the  Douglas  managers,  and  burlesque 
upon  popular  sovereignty,  was  as  remarkable  as 
the  madness  of  the  seceders  in  fighting  him  for  his 
supposed  anti-slavery  proclivities.  The  bolters 
from  this  convention  afterward  nominated  John  C. 


176  POLITICAL  KECOLLl.^  //c.v.s. 

Breckenridgc  as  their  candidate  for  President  and 
Joseph  Lane  for  Vice  President.  The  Democratic 
canvas  \\MN  thu>  inaugurated,  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  party  provided  for  in  the  mere  wantonness 
of  political  folly. 

On  the  ninth  of  May  what  was  called  the  Con- 
stitutional Union  Party  held  its  convention  at  Bal- 
timore, and  nominated  John  Bell  for  Pre.M'dent  and 
Kdward  Everett  for  Vice  President.  It  adopted  no 
platform,  and  owing  to  its  neutrality  of  tint,  its 
action  had  no  significance  aside  from  its  possible 
effect  on  the  result  of  the  struggle  between  the 
Democrats  and  Republicans. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  at 
Chicago  on  the  sixteenth  of  May.  It  was  attended 
by  immense  numbers,  and  its  action  was  regarded 
with  profound  and  universal  solicitude.  The  plat- 
form of  the  Convention  affirmed  the  devotion  of 
the  party  to  the  union  of  the  States  and  the  rights 
of  the  States;  denounced  the  new  dogma  that  the 
Constitution  carried  slavery  into  the  Territories ; 
declared  freedom  to  be  their  normal  condition  ; 
denied  the  power  of  Congress  or  of  a  Territorial 
Legislature  to  give  legal  existence  to  slavery  in 
any  territory  ;  branded  as  a  crime  the  reopening  of 
the  African  slave  trade ;  condemned  the  heresy  of 
Know- Nothingism,  and  demanded  the  passage  of  a 
Homestead  law.  The  principles  of  the  party  were 
thus  broadly  stated  and  fully  re-affirmed,  and  the 
;es  of  the  canvass  very  clearly  presented. 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  177 


The  leading  candidates  were  Seward  and  Lincoln, 
who  pretty  evenly  divided  the  Convention,  and 
thus  created  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  result. 
The  friends  of  Mr.  Seward  had  unbounded  confi- 
dence in  his  nomination,  and  their  devotion  to  his 
fortunes  was  intense  and  absolute.  The  radical 
anti-slavery  element  in  the  party  idolized  him,  and 
longed  for  his  success  as  for  a  great  and  coveted 
national  blessing.  The  delegates  from  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  representing  a 
superficial  and  only  half-developed  Republicanism, 
labored  with  untiring  and  exhaustless  zeal  for  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  fervently  pleading  for 
"  Success  rather  than  Seward."  Henry  S.  Lane 
and  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  then  candidates  for  Gov- 
ernor in  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Pennsylvania, 
respectively,  were  especially  active  and  persistent, 
and  their  appeals  were  undoubtedly  effective. 
When  Seward  was  defeated  many  an  anti-slavery 
man  poured  out  his  tears  over  the  result,  while  de- 
ploring or  denouncing  the  conservatism  of  old  fos- 
sil Whiggery,  which  thus  sacrificed  the  ablest  man 
in  the  party,  and  the  real  hero  of  its  principles. 
Time,  however,  led  these  men  to  reconsider  their 
estimate  both  of  Seward  and  Lincoln,  and  con- 
vinced them  that  the  action  of  the  convention,  after 
all,  was  for  the  best.  On  the  second  ballot  Ham- 
lin  was  nominated  for  Vice  President  over  Clay, 
Banks,  Hickman,  and  others,  and  the  Republican 
campaign  thus  auspiciously  inaugurated. 
12 


178  /v/./y/oVfZ,  RECOLLECTIONS. 

The  canvass  for  Douglas  was  prosecuted  with 
remarkable  energy  and  zeal.  He  was  himself  the 
great  leader  of  his  party  on  the  stump,  and  his 
efforts  evinced  singular  courage,  audacity,  and  will. 
It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that  his  election 
was  impossible;  but  this  did  not  cool  his  ardor  or 
relax  his  efforts.  He  kept  up  the  fight  to  the  end  ; 
and  after  his  defeat,  and  when  he  saw  the  power 
that  had  destroyed  him  organizing  its  forces  for 
the  destruction  of  the  Union,  he  espoused  the  side 
of  his  country,  and  never  faltered  in  his  course. 
But  as  to  slavery  he  seemed  to  have  no  conscience, 
regarding  it  as  a  matter  of  total  moral  indifference, 
and  thus  completely  confounding  the  distinction 
between  right  and  wrong.  During  the  closing 
hours  of  his  life  he  probably  saw  and  lamented  this 
strange  infatuation  ;  and  he  must,  at  all  events,  have 
deplored  the  obsequious  and  studied  devotion  of  a 
life-time  to  the  service  of  a  power  which  at  last 
demanded  both  the  sacrifice  of  his  country  and 
himself.  The  canvass  for  Lincoln  was  conducted 
by  the  ablest  men  in  the  party,  and  was  marked  by 
great  earnestness  and  enthusiasm.  It  was  a  repe- 
tition of  the  Fremont  campaign,  with  the  added 
difference  of  a  little  more  contrivance  and  spec- 
tacular display  in  its  demonstrations,  as  witnessed 
in  the  famous  organization  known  as  the  "  Wide- 
Awakes."  The  doctrines  of  the  Chicago  platform 
were  very  thoroughly  discussed,  and  powerfully 
contributed  to  the  further  political  education  of  the 


PROGRESS  OF  REPUBLICANISM.  179 

people.  The  speeches  of  Mr.  Seward  were  sin- 
gularly able,  effective  and  inspiring,  and  he  was 
the  acknowledged  leader  of  his  party  and  the  idol 
of  the  Republican  masses  everywhere.  This  was 
the  day  of  his  glory,  and  nothing  yet  foreshadowed 
the  political  eclipse  which  awaited  him  in  the  near 
future.  The  triumph  of  the  Republicans  in  this 
struggle  was  not,  however,  final.  A  great  work 
yet  remained  to  be  done.  A  powerful  anti-slavery 
party  had  at  last  appeared,  as  the  slow  creation  of 
events  and  the  fruit  of  patient  toil  and  endeavor ; 
but  it  had  against  it  a  popular  majority  of  nearly 
a  million.  Both  Houses  of  Congress  and  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  disputed  its 
authority  and  opposed  its  advance.  The  President- 
elect could  not  form  his  cabinet  without  the  leave 
of  the  Senate,  which  was  controlled  by  slavery,  nor 
could  he  set  the  machinery  of  his  Administration 
in  motion,  at  home  or  abroad,  through  the  exercise 
of  his  appointing  power,  without  the  consent  of  his 
political  opponents.  As  Mr.  Seward  declared  in 
the  Senate,  "  he  could  not  appoint  a  minister  or 
even  a  police  agent,  negotiate  a  treaty  or  procure 
the  passage  of  a  law,  and  could  hardly  draw  a 
musket  from  the  public  arsenal  to  defend  his  own 
person."  The  champions  of  slavery  had  no  dream 
of  surrender,  and  no  excuse  whatever  for  extreme 
measures  ;  and  with  moderate  counsels  and  the 
prudent  economy  of  their  advantages,  they  were 
the  undoubted  masters  of  their  own  fortunes  for 


i  i  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

indefinite  years  to  come.  But  their  extravagant 
and  exasperating  demands,  and  the  splendid  mad- 
ness of  their  latter  day  tactics  as  illustrated  in  their 
warfare  against  Douglas,  were  the  sure  presages  of 
their  overthrow.  There  was  method  in  their  mad- 
ness,  but  it  was  the  method  of  self-destruction. 
This  was  made  still  more  strikingly  manifest  during 
the  months  immediately  preceding  the  inauguration 
of  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  Republicans,  notwithstanding 
their  great  victory,  so  recoiled  from  the  thought  of 
sectional  strife  that  for  the  sake  of  peace  they  were 
ready  to  forego  their  demand  for  the  Congressional 
prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories.  They 
were  willing  to  abide  by  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
and  the  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law. 
They  even  proposed  a  Constitutional  amendment 
which  would  have  made  slavery  perpetual  in  the 
Republic ;  but  the  pampered  frenzy  of  the  slave 
oligarchy  defied  all  remedies,  and  hurried  it  head- 
long into  the  bloody  conspiracy  which  was  to 
close  forever  its  career  of  besotted  lawlessness  and 
crime. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR. 

Visit  to  Mr.  Lincoln — Closing  months  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Ad- 
ministration— Efforts  to  avoid  war — Character  of  Buchanan 
— Lincoln's  Inauguration — His  war  policy — The  grand  army 
of  office  seekers — The  July  session  of  Congress — The  at- 
mosphere of  Washington — Battle  of  Bull  Run — Apologetic 
resolve  of  Congress — First  confiscation  act — Gen.  Fre- 
mont's proclamation  and  its  effect — Its  revocation — Regulai 
session  of  Congress — Secretary  Cameron — Committee  on  the 
conduct  of  the  war — Its  conference  with  the  President  and 
his  Cabinet — Secretary  Stanton  and  General  McClellan — 
Order  to  march  upon  Manassas. 

EARLY  in  January,  1861,  I  paid  a  visit  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  at  his  home  in  Springfield.  I  had  a  curi- 
osity to  see  the  famous  "  rail  splitter,"  as  he  was 
then  familiarly  called,  and  as  a  member-elect  of  the 
Thirty-seventh  Congress  I  desired  to  form  some  ac- 
quaintance with  the  man  who  was  to  play  so  con- 
spicuous a  part  in  the  impending  national  crisis. 
Although  I  had  zealously  supported  him  in  the 
canvass,  and  was  strongly  impressed  by  the  grasp 
of  thought  and  aptness  of  expression  which 
marked  his  great  debate  with  Douglas,  yet  as  a 
thorough-going  Free  Soiler  and  a  member  of  the 
radical  wing  of  Republicanism,  my  prepossessions 
fi8i) 


1 82  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

were  against  him.  He  was  a  Kcntuckian,  and  a 
conservative  Whig,  \vho  had  supported  General 
Taylor  in  1848,  and  General  Scott  four  years  later, 
when  the  Whig  party  finally  sacrificed  both  its 
character  and  its  life  on  the  altar  of  slavery.  His 
nomination,  moreover,  had  been  secured  through 
the  diplomacy  of  conservative  Republicans,  whose 
morbid  dread  of"  abolitionism  "  unfitted  them,  as  I 
believed,  for  leadership  in  the  battle  with  slavery 
which  had  now  become  inevitable,  while  the  de- 
feat of  Mr.  Seward  had  been  to  me  a  severe  dis- 
appointment and  a  real  personal  grief.  The  rumor 
was  also  current,  and  generally  credited,  that 
Simon  Cameron  and  Caleb  B.  Smith  were  to  be 
made  Cabinet  Ministers,  in  recognition  of  the  im- 
portant services  rendered  by  the  friends  of  these 
gentlemen  in  the  Chicago  Convention.  Still,  I  did 
not  wish  to  do  Mr.  Lincoln  the  slightest  injustice, 
while  I  hoped  and  believed  his  courage  and  firm- 
ness would  prove  equal  to  the  emergency. 

On  meeting  him  I  found  him  far  better  looking 
than  the  campaign  pictures  had  represented.  His 
face,  when  lighted  up  in  conversation,  was  not  un- 
handsome, and  the  kindly  and  winning  tones  of  his 
voice  pleaded  for  him  like  the  smile  which  played 
about  his  rugged  features.  He  was  full  of  anec- 
dote and  humor,  and  readily  found  his  way  to  the 
hearts  of  those  who  enjoyed  a  welcome  to  his  fire- 
side. His  face,  however,  was  sometimes  marked 
by  that  touching  expression  of  sadness  which  be- 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.    183 

came  so  generally  noticeable  in  the  following  years. 
On  the  subject  of  slavery  I  was  gratified  to  find 
him  less  reserved  and  more  emphatic  than  I  ex- 
pected. The  Cabinet  rumor  referred  to  was  true. 
He  felt  bound  by  the  pledges  which  his  leading 
friends  had  made  in  his  name  pending  the  National 
Convention ;  and  the  policy  on  which  he  acted  in 
these  and  many  other  appointments  was  forcibly 
illustrated  on  a  subsequent  occasion,  when  I  ear- 
nestly protested  against  the  appointment  of  an  in- 
competent and  unworthy  man  as  Commissioner  of 
Patents.  "  There  is  much  force  in  what  you  say," 
said  he,  "  but,  in  the  balancing  of  matters,  I  guess 
I  shall  have  to  appoint  him."  This  "balancing 
of  matters  "  was  a  source  of  infinite  vexation  dur- 
ing his  administration,  as  it  has  been  to  every  one 
of  his  successors ;  and  its  most  deplorable  results 
have  been  witnessed  in  the  assassination  of  a  presi- 
dent. Upon  the  whole,  however,  I  was  much 
pleased  with  our  first  Republican  Executive,  and 
I  returned  home  more  fully  inspired  than  ever  with 
the  purpose  to  sustain  him  to  the  utmost  in  facing 
the  duties  of  his  great  office. 

The  closing  months  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Admin- 
istration were  dismal  and  full  of  apprehension. 
One  by  one  the  slaveholding  States  were  seceding 
from  the  Union.  The  President,  in  repeated  mes- 
sages, denied  their  right  to  secede,  but  denied  also 
the  right  of  the  Government  to  coerce  them  into 
obedience.  It  should  be  remembered,  to  his  credit, 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


that  he  did  insist  upon  the  right  to  enforce  the 
execution  of  the  laws  in  nil  the  States,  and  ear- 
nestly urged  upon  Congress  the  duty  of  arming 
him  with  the  power  to  do  this;  but  Congress,  much 
to  its  discredit,  paid  no  attention  to  his  wishes, 
leaving  the  new  Administration  wholly  unprepared 
for  the  impending  emergency,  while  strangely  up- 
braiding the  retiring  President  for  his  non-action. 
For  this  there  could  be  no  valid  excuse.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  Northern  States,  now  that  the  movement 
in  the  South  was  seen  to  be  something  more  than 
mere  bluster,  were  equally  alarmed  and  bewildered. 
The  "  New  York  Herald"  declared  that  "  coercion, 
if  it  were  possible,  is  out  of  the  question."  The 
"  Albany  Argus "  condemned  it  as  "  madness." 
The  "  Albany  Evening  Journal "  and  many  other 
leading  organs  of  Republicanism,  East  and  West, 
disowned  it,  and  counseled  conciliation  and  further 
concessions  to  the  demands  of  slavery.  The  "  New 
York  Tribune"  emphatically  condemned  the  pol- 
icy of  coercion,  and  even  after  the  cotton  States 
had  formed  their  Confederacy  and  adopted  a  pro- 
visional Government,  it  declared  that  "  whenever 
it  shall  be  clear  that  the  great  body  of  the  South- 
ern people  have  become  conclusively  alienated 
from  the  Union  and  anxious  to  escape  from  it,  we 
will  do  our  best  to  forward  their  views."  The 
"  Tribune  "  had  before  declared  that  "  whenever  a 
considerable  section  of  our  Union  shall  deliberately 
resolve  to  go  out,  we  shall  resist  all  coercive 


NE  W  AD  MINIS  TRA  TION  AND  THE  WAR.      185 

measures  designed  to  keep  it  in.  We  hope  never 
to  live  in  a  Republic  whereof  one  section  is 
pinned  to  the  other  by  bayonets."  It  is  true, 
that  it  justified  the  secession  of  the  Southern 
States  as  a  revolutionary  right;  but  although 
these  States  defended  it  as  a  constitutional  one, 
the  broader  and  higher  ground  of  Mr.  Greeley 
necessarily  gave  powerful  aid  and  comfort  to  their 
movement.  In  the  meantime,  great  meetings 
in  Philadelphia  and  New  York  strongly  con- 
demned the  Abolitionists,  and  urged  the  most  ex- 
travagant additional  concessions  to  slavery  for  the 
sake  of  peace.  On  the  I2th  of  January  Mr.  Sew- 
ard  made  his  great  speech  in  the  Senate,  declar- 
ing that  he  could  "  afford  to  meet  prejudice  with 
conciliation,  exaction  with  concession  which  sur- 
renders no  principle,  and  violence  with  the  right 
hand  of  peace."  He  was  willing  to  give  up  Con- 
gressional prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories, 
enforce  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  and  perpetuate 
slavery  in  the  Republic  by  amending  the  Constitu- 
tion for  that  purpose.  The  Crittenden  compromise, 
which  practically  surrendered  everything  to  slav- 
ery, only  failed  in  the  Senate  by  one  vote,  and  this 
failure  resulted  from  the  non-voting  of  six  rebel 
senators,  who  were  so  perfectly  devil-bent  upon 
the  work  of  national  dismemberment  that  they 
would  not  listen  to  any  terms  of  compromise,  or 
permit  their  adoption.  The  Peace  Congress,  as- 
sembled for  the  purpose  of  devising  some  means 


186  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  national  pacification,  agreed  upon  a  series  of 
measures  covering  substantially  the  same  ground 
as  the  Crittendcn  compromise,  while  both  Houses 
of  Congress  agreed  to  a  constitutional  amendment 
denying  any  power  to  interfere  with  slavery  "  until 
every  State  in  the  Union,  by  its  individual  State- 
action,  shall  consent  to  its  exercise."  The  feverish 
dread  of  war  which  prevailed  throughout  the  North- 
ern States  was  constantly  aggravated  by  multiply- 
ing evidences  of  slaveholding  desperation.  The 
general  direction  of  public  opinion  pointed  to  the 
Abolitionists  as  the  authors  of  these  national 
troubles,  while  the  innocent  and  greatly-abused 
slaveholders  were  to  be  petted  and  placated  by  any 
measures  which  could  possibly  serve  the  purpose. 
Indeed,  the  spirit  of  Northern  submission  had 
never,  in  the  entire  history  of  the  anti-slavery  con- 
flict, been  more  strikingly  exhibited  than  during 
the  last  days  of  the  Thirty-sixth  Congress,  when  the 
Capital  of  the  Republic  was  threatened  by  armed 
treason,  and  the  President-elect  reached  Washing- 
ton in  a  disguise  which  baffled  the  assassins  who 
had  conspired  against  his  life.  To  the  very  last 
the  old  medicine  of  compromise  and  conciliation 
seemed  to  be  the  sovereign  hope  of  the  people  of 
the  free  States ;  and  although  it  had  failed  utterly, 
and  every  offer  of  friendship  and  peace  had  been 
promptly  spurned  as  the  evidence  of  weakness  or 
cowardice,  they  clung  to  it  till  the  guns  of  Fort 
Sumter  roused  them  from  their  perilous  dream. 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.       187 

The  inauguration  of  the  President  was  awaited 
with  great  anxiety  and  alarm.  The  capture  of . 
Washington  by  the  rebels  was  seriously  appre 
hended,  and  had  undoubtedly  been  meditated.  The 
air  was  filled  with  rumors  respecting  the  assassina- 
tion of  the  President,  and  the  stories  told  of  the 
various  methods  of  his  taking  off  would  have  been 
amusing  if  the  crisis  had  not  been  so  serious. 
General  Scott  took  all  the  precautions  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  peace  which  the  small  force  at  his 
command,  and  the  District  militia,  enabled  him  to 
do.  The  day  was  beautiful,  and  the  procession  to 
the  Capitol  quite  imposing.  Mr.  Lincoln  and  ex- 
President  Buchanan  entered  the  Senate  chamber 
arm  in  arm ;  and  the  latter  was  so  withered  and 
bowed  with  age  that  in  contrast  with  the  towering 
form  of  Mr.  Lincoln  he  seemed  little  more  than 
half  a  man.  The  crowd  which  greeted  the  Presi- 
dent in  front  of  the  east  portico  of  the  Capitol  was 
immense,  and  has  never  been  equaled  on  any 
similar  occasion  with  the  single  exception  of 
General  Garfield's  inauguration.  Mr.  Lincoln's 
voice,  though  not  very  strong  or  full-toned,  rang 
out  over  the  acres  of  people  before  him  with  sur- 
prising distinctness,  and  was  heard  in  the  remotest 
parts  of  his  audience.  The  tone  of  moderation, 
tenderness,  and  good-will,  which  marked  his  ad- 
dress, made  an  evident  impression,  and  the  most 
heartfelt  plaudits  were  called  forth  by  the  closing 
passage  : 


I  88  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

"  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not 
be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained, 
it  must  not  break,  our  bonds  of  affection.  The 
mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart 
and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet 
swell  the  chorus  of  union,  when  again  touched,  as 
they  surely  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  their 
nature." 

Rut  as  an  offering  of  friendship  and  fair  dealing 
to  the  South,  this  speech  failed  of  its  purpose  as 
signally  as  all  kindred  endeavors  had  done  from 
the  beginning.  The  "  Richmond  Enquirer"  and 
"  Whig,"  the  "  Charleston  Mercury,"  and  other 
leading  organs  of  secession,  denounced  the 
inaugural,  and  seemed  to  be  maddened  by  the 
very  kindliness  of  its  tone  and  the  moderation  of 
its  demands.  Their  purpose  was  disunion  and 
war,  and  every  passing  day  multiplied  the  proofs 
that  no  honorable  escape  from  this  fearful  alterna- 
tive was  possible. 

The  policy  of  the  new  Administration  prior  to 
the  attack  upon  Sumter  forms  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  chapter' in  the  history  of  the  war.  All 
the  troubles  of  the  previous  Administration  were 
now  turned  over  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  while  no 
measures  had  been  provided  to  aid  him  in  their 
settlement  the  crisis  was  constantly  becoming  more 
imminent.  The  country  was  perfectly  at  sea ;  and 
while  all  hope  of  reconciliation  was  fading  from  day 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     189 

to  day,  Mr.  Seward  insisted  that  peace  would 
come  within  "  sixty  days."  His  optimism  would 
have  been  most  amusing,  if  the  salvation  of  the 
country  had  not  been  at  stake.  The  President 
himself  not  only  still  hoped,  but  believed,  that  there 
would  be  no  war ;  and  notwithstanding  all  the 
abuse  that  had  been  heaped  upon  Mr.  Buchanan 
by  the  Republicans  for  his  feeble  and  vacillating 
course,  and  especially  his  denial  of  the  right  of  the 
government  to  coerce  the  recusant  States,  the 
policy  of  the  new  Administration,  up  to  the  attack 
upon  Sumter,  was  identical  with  that  of  his  prede- 
cessor. In  Mr.  Seward's  official  letter  to  Mr. 
Adams,  dated  April  10,  1861,  he  says  the  Presi- 
dent "  would  not  be  disposed  to  reject  a  cardinal 
dogma  of  theirs  (the  secessionists),  namely,  that  the 
Federal  Government  could  not  reduce  the  seceding 
States  to  obedience  by  conquest,  even  though  he 
were  disposed  to  question  that  proposition.  But 
in  fact  the  President  willingly  accepts  it  as  true. 
Only  an  imperial  and  despotic  Government  could 
subjugate  thoroughly  disaffected  and  insurrection- 
ary members  of  the  State.  *  *  *  The  Presi- 
dent, on  the  one  hand,  will  not  suffer  the  Federal 
authority  to  fall  into  abeyance,  nor  will  he,  on  the 
other  hand,  aggravate  existing  evils  by  attempts  at 
coercion,  which  must  assume  the  direct  form  of  war 
against  any  of  the  revolutionary  States."  These  are 
very  remarkable  avowals,  in  the  light  of  the  absolute 
unavoidableness  of  the  conflict  at  the  time  they 


190  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

were  made  ;  and  they  naturally  tended  to  precipi- 
tate rather  than  to  avert  the  threatened  catastrophe. 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  Secretary  Seward  spoke 
only  for  himself,  and  not  for  the  Administration ; 
for  the  fact  has  since  been  established  by  the  evi- 
dence of  other  members  of  the  Cabinet  that  Mr. 
Lincoln,  while  he  had  great  faith  in  Mr.  Seward  at 
first,  was  always  himself  the  President.  No  mem- 
ber of  it  was  his  dictator.  I  do  not  say  that  he  en- 
dorsed all  Mr.  Seward's  peculiar  views,  for  the 
latter  went  still  further,  as  the  country  has  since 
learned,  and  favored  the  abandonment  of  Fort 
Sumter  and  other  Southern  forts,  as  a  part  of  a 
scheme  of  pacification  looking  to  an  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  in  the  interest  of  slavery. 
During  this  early  period  Mr.  Chase  himself,  with 
all  his  anti-slavery  radicalism  and  devotion  to  the 
Union,  became  so  far  the  child  of  the  hour  as  to 
deprecate  the  policy  of  coercion  and  express  his 
belief  that  if  the  rebel  States  were  allowed  to  go  in 
peace  they  would  soon  return.  But  "  war  legis- 
lates," and  the  time  had  now  come  when  noth- 
ing else  could  break  the  spell  of  irresolution  and 
blindness  which  threatened  the  Union  even  more 
seriously  than  armed  treason  itself. 

Notwithstanding  this  strange  epoch  of  Republi- 
can feebleness  and  indecision,  the  warfare  against 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  never  intermitted.  It  had  been 
prosecuted  with  constantly  increasing  vigor  since 
the  year  1856,  and  had  now  become  so  perfectly 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     19! 

relentless  and  overwhelming  that  he  was  totally 
submerged  by  the  waves  of  popular  wrath  ;  and  for 
twenty  odd  years  no  political  resurrection  has  been 
thought  possible.  Although  his  personal  integrity 
was  as  unquestionable  as  that  of  John  C.  Calhoun 
or  George  III,  and  his  private  life  as  stainless, 
yet  his  public  character  has  received  no  quarter 
from  his  enemies  and  but  little  defense  from  his 
friends.  One  of  his  most  formidable  critics,  writ- 
ing long  years  after  the  war,  describes  him  as 
"  hungry  for  regard,  influence  and  honor,  but  too 
diminutive  in  intellect  and  character  to  feel  the 
glow  of  true  ambition — a  man  made,  so  to  speak, 
to  be  neither  loved  nor  hated,  esteemed  nor  de- 
spised, slighted  nor  admired ;  intended  to  play  an 
influential  part  in  the  agitation  of  parties,  and  by 
history  to  be  silently  numbered  with  the  dead,  be- 
cause in  all  his  doings  there  was  not  a  single  deed  ; 
a  man  to  whom  fate  could  do  nothing  worse  than 
place  him  at  the  helm  in  an  eventful  period." 
While  there  is  a  measure  of  truth  in  this  picture,  I 
believe  any  fair-minded  man  will  pronounce  it  over- 
drawn, one-sided,  and  unjust,  after  reading  the  re- 
cently published  life  of  Mr.  Buchanan  by  George 
Ticknor  Curtis,  dealing  fully  with  his  entire  public 
career  in  the  clear,  cold  light  of  historic  facts. 
The  most  pronounced  political  foe  of  Mr.  Buchan- 
an can  not  go  over  the  pages  of  this  elaborate 
and  long-delayed  defense  without  modifying  some 
of  his  most  decided  opinions  ;  but  one  thing  remains 


192  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

obviously  true,  and  that  is  that  in  dealing  with 
the  question  of  slavery  Mr.  Buchanan  was  wholly 
without  a  conscience.  The  thought  seems  never  to 
have  dawned  upon  him  that  the  slave  was  a  man, 
and  therefore  entitled  to  his  natural  rights.  In  a  pub- 
lic speech  on  the  ninth  of  July,  1860,  defining  his 
position, and  referring  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  he 
says :  "  It  is  to  me  the  most  extraordinary  thing  in 
the  world  that  this  country  should  now  be  distracted 
and  divided  because  certain  persons  at  the  North 
will  not  agree  that  their  brethren  at  the  South 
should  have  the  same  rights  in  the  Territories 
which  they  enjoy.  What  would  I,  as  a  Pennsyl- 
vanian,  say  or  do,  supposing  any  one  was  to  con- 
tend that  the  Legislature  of  any  Territory  could 
outlaw  iron  or  coal  within  the  Territory  ?  The 
principle  is  precisely  the  same.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  has  decided,  what  was 
known  to  us  all  to  have  been  the  existing  state 
of  affairs  for  fifty  years,  that  slaves  are  property. 
Admit  that  fact,  and  you  admit  everything." 

In  this  passage,  as  in  all  that  he  has  written  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  humanity  is  totally  ignored. 
The  right  of  property  in  man  is  just  as  sacred  to 
him,  "  as  a  Pennsylvanian,"  as  the  right  of  prop- 
erty in  iron  or  coal.  He  unhesitatingly  accepts 
the  Dred  Scott  decision  as  law,  which  the  moral 
sense  of  the  nation  and  its  ablest  jurists  pronounced 
a  nullity.  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  speaking  of  slavery, 
said  he  trembled  for  his  country,  and  declared  that 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     193 

one  hour  of  bondage  is  fraught  with  more  misery 
than  whole  ages  of  our  colonial  oppression.  Such 
a  sentiment  in  the  mouth  of  Mr.  Buchanan  would 
have  been  as  unnatural  as  a  voice  from  the  dead. 
He  saw  nothing  morally  offensive  in  slavery,  or 
repugnant  to  the  principles  of  Democracy.  He 
reverenced  the  Constitution,  but  always  forgot  that 
its  compromises  were  agreed  to  in  the  belief  that 
the  institution  was  in  a  state  of  decay,  and  would 
soon  wear  out  its  life  under  the  pressure  of  public 
opinion  and  private  interest.  Throughout  his 
public  life  he  never  faltered  in  his  devotion  to  the 
South,  joining  hands  with  alacrity  in  every  meas- 
ure which  sought  to  nationalize  her  sectional  in- 
terest. The  growing  anti-slavery  opinion  of  the 
free  States,  which  no  power  could  prevent,  and  the 
great  moral  currents  of  the  times,  which  were  as 
resistless  as  the  tides  of  the  sea,  had  no  meaning 
for  him,  because  the  Democracy  he  believed  in  had 
no  foundation  in  the  sacredness  of  human  rights. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  spite  of  the  troubled  state  of 
the  country,  was  obliged  to  encounter  an  army  of 
place-seekers  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  admin- 
istration. I  think  there  has  been  nothing  like  it  in 
the  history  of  the  Government.  A  Republican 
member  of  Congress  could  form  some  idea  of  the 
President's  troubles  from  his  own  experience.  I 
fled  from  my  home  in  the  latter  part  of  February, 
in  the  hope  of  finding  some  relief  from  these  im- 
portunities; but  on  reaching  Washington  I  found 
13 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


the  business  greatly  aggravated.  The  pressure 
was  so  great  and  constant  that  I  could  scarcely 
find  time  for  my  meals,  or  to  cross  the  street,  and 
I  was  obliged  to  give  my  days  and  nights  wholly 
to  the  business,  hoping  in  this  way  I  should  be 
able  in  a  little  while  to  finish  it  ;  but  it  constantly 
increased.  I  met  at  every  turn  a  swarm  of  mis- 
cellaneous people,  many  of  them  looking  as  hungry 
and  fierce  as  wolves,  and  ready  to  pounce  upon 
members  as  they  passed,  begging  for  personal  in- 
tercession, letters  of  recommendation,  etc.  During 
my  stay  in  Washington  through  the  months  of 
March  and  April,  there  was  no  pause  in  this  busi- 
ness. After  Fort  Sumter  had  been  taken  and  the 
armory  at  Harper's  Ferry  had  been  burned  ;  after  a 
Massachusetts  regiment  had  been  fired  on  in  pass- 
ing through  Baltimore,  and  thirty  thousand  men 
were  in  Washington  for  defensive  purposes  ;  after 
the  President  had  called  for  seventy-five  thousand 
volunteers,  and  the  whole  land  was  in  a  blaze  of 
excitement,  the  scuffle  for  place  was  unabated,  and 
the  pressure  upon  the  strength  and  patience  of  the 
President  unrelieved.  This  was  not  very  remark- 
able, considering  the  long-continued  monopoly  of 
the  offices  by  the  Democrats  ;  but  it  jarred  upon  the 
sentiment  of  patriotism  in  such  a  crisis,  and  to 
those  who  were  constantly  brought  face  to  face 
with  it,  it  sometimes  appeared  as  if  the  love  of 
office  alone  constituted  the  animating  principle  of 
the  party. 


NEW AD  MINIS! RATION AND  THE  WAR.     195 

When  Congress  assembled  in  special  session  on 
the  Fourth  of  July.'the  atmosphere  of  the  Northern 
States  had  been  greatly  purified  by  the  attack  on 
Fort  Sumter.  The  unavoidableness  of  war  was 
now  absolute,  and  the  tone  of  the  President's  mes- 
sage was  far  bolder  and  better  than  that  of  his  in- 
augural. The  policy  of  tenderness  towards  slav- 
ery, however,  still  revealed  itself,  and  called  forth 
the  criticism  of  the  more  radical  Republicans. 
They  began  to  distrust  Mr.  Seward,  who  no  longer 
seemed  to  them  the  hero  of  principle  they  had  so 
long  idolized,  while  his  growing  indifference  to  the 
virtue  of  temperance  was  offensive  to  many.  He 
impressed  his  old  anti-slavery  friends  as  a  deeply 
disappointed  man,  who  was  in  danger  of  being 
morally  lost.  Their  faith  was  even  a  little  shaken 
in  Secretary  Chase.  Of  course,  they  did  not  be- 
lieve him  false  to  his  long-cherished  anti-slavery 
convictions,  but  he  was  amazingly  ambitious,  and 
in  the  dispensation  of  his  patronage  he  seemed 
anxious  to  make  fair  weather  with  some  of  his  old 
conservative  foes,  while  apparently  forgetting  the 
faithful  friends  who  had  stood  by  him  from  the 
very  beginning  of  his  career,  and  were  considered 
eminently  fit  for  the  positions  they  sought.  The 
rumor  was  afloat  that  even  Charles  Sumner  was 
urging  the  claims  of  Mr.  Crittenden  to  a  place  on 
the  Supreme  Bench,  as  a  means  of  conciliating  the 
State  of  Kentucky.  Washington  was  largely  a 
city  of  secessionists,  and  the  departments  of  the 


i  /  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Government  were  plentifully  supplied  by  sympa- 
thizers with  treason,  while  the*  effort  put  forth  at 
this  session  to  dislodge  them  was  not  responded  to 
by  the  Administration.  What  became  known  as 
the  Border  State  policy  was  beginning  to  assert 
itself  everywhere,  and  was  strikingly  illustrated  in 
the  capture  of  fugitive  slaves  and  their  return  to 
their  rebel  masters  by  our  commanding  generals, 
and  by  reiterated  and  gratuitous  disavowals  of 
"abolitionism  "  by  prominent  Republicans. 

But  the  war  spirit  was  fully  aroused,  and  active 
preparations  were  on  foot  for  an  advance  upon  the 
enemy.  The  confidence  in  General  Scott  seemed 
to  be  unbounded,  and  I  found  everybody  taking  it 
for  granted  that  when  the  fight  began  our  forces 
would  prove  triumphantly  victorious.  On  the 
day  before  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  I  obtained  a  pass 
from  General  Scott,  intending  to  witness  the  en- 
gagement,  believing  I  could  do  so,  of  course,  with 
perfect  safety,  as  our  army  would  undoubtedly 
triumph.  I  had  a  very  strong  curiosity  to  see  a 
great  battle,  and  was  now  gratified  with  the  pros- 
pect of  doing  so;  but  a  lucky  accident  detained 
me.  The  battle  was  on  Sunday,  and  about  eleven 
o'clock  at  night  I  was  roused  from  my  slumber  by 
Col.  Forney,  who  resided  on  Capital  Hill  near  my 
lodgings,  and  who  told  me  our  army  had  been 
routed,  and  that  the  rebels  were  marching  upon  the 
capital  and  would  in  all  probability  capture  it  be- 
fore morning.  No  unmiraculous  event  could  have 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE   WAR.     197 

been  more  startling.  I  was  perfectly  stunned  and 
dumbfounded  by  the  news ;  but  I  hastened  down 
to  the  Avenue  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  found  the 
space  between  the  Capitol  and  the  Treasury  Build- 
ing a  moving  mass  of  humanity.  Every  man 
seemed  to  be  asking  every  man  he  met  for  the 
latest  news,  while  all  sorts  of  rumors  filled  the  air. 
A  feeling  of  mingled  horror  and  despair  appeared  to 
possess  everybody.  The  event  was  so  totally  un- 
looked  for,  and  the  disappointment  so  terrible,  that 
people  grew  suddenly  sick  at  heart,  and  felt  as  if 
life  itself,  with  all  its  interests  and  charms,  had  been 
snatched  from  their  grasp.  The  excitement,  tur- 
moil and  consternation  continued  during  the  night 
and  through  the  following  day;  but  no  one  could 
adequately  picture  or  describe  it.  Our  soldiers 
came  straggling  into  the  city,  covered  with  dirt 
and  many  of  them  wounded,  while  the  panic 
which  led  to  the  disaster  spread  like  a  contagion 
through  all  classes. 

On  the  day  following  this  battle  Congress  met 
as  usual,  ana  undoubtedly  shared  largely  in  the 
general  feeling.  A  little  before  the  battle  General 
Mansfield  had  issued  an  order  declaring  that  fugi- 
tive slaves  would  under  no  circumstances  whatever 
be  permitted  to  reside  or  be  harbored  in  the  quar- 
ters and  camps  of  the  troops  serving  in  his  depart- 
ment ;  and  now,  both  Houses  of  Congress  prompt- 
ly and  with  great  unanimity  and  studious  emphasis 
declared  that  the  purpose  of  the  war  was  not  the 


POL  I TICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


"conquest"  or  "subjugation"  of  the  conspirators 
who  were  striking  at  the  Nation's  life,  or  the  over- 
throw of  their"  established  institutions,"  but  t<> 
fend  "  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution,"  and  to 
"preserve  the  Union";  and  that  "as  soon  as  these 
objects  arc  accomplished  the  war  ought  to  cease." 
To  thorough-going  anti-slavery  men  this  seemed 
like  an  apology  for  the  war,  and  a  most  ill-timed 
revival  of  the  policy  of  conciliation,  which  had 
been  so  uniformly  and  contemptuously  spurned 
by  the  enemy.  It  failed  utterly  of  its  purpose,  and 
this  historic  resolve  of  Congress  was  only  useful 
to  the  rebels,  who  never  failed  to  wield  it  as  a 
weapon  against  us,  after  the  teaching  of  events  had 
compelled  us  to  make  slavery  the  point  of  attack. 
The  Confiscation  Act  of  the  6th  of  August  was  re- 
garded as  a  child  of  the  same  sickly  ancestry. 
The  section  of  the  Act  making  free  the  slaves  em- 
ployed against  us  by  the  rebels  in  their  military 
operations  was  criticised  as  a  bribe  to  them  to  fight 
us,  rather  than  a  temptation  to  espouse  our  cause. 
If  they  engaged  in  the  war  at  all,  they  were  obliged 
to  do  so  as  our  enemies ;  but  if  they  remained 
at  home  on  their  plantations  in  the  business  of 
feeding  the  rebel  armies,  they  would  have  the  pro 
tection  of  both  the  loyal  and  Confederate  Govern- 
ments. The  policy  of  both  parties  to  the  struggle 
was  thus  subordinated  to  the  protection  of  slavery. 
But  on  the  3ist  of  August  a  new  war  policy  was 
inaugurated  by  the  proclamation  of  General  Fre- 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     199 

mont,  giving  freedom  to  the  slaves  of  rebels  in  his 
department.  It  was  greeted  by  the  people  of  the 
Northern  States  with  inexpressible  gladness  and 
thanksgiving.  The  Republican  press  everywhere 
applauded  it,  and  even  such  Democratic  and  con- 
servative papers  as  the  "Boston  Post,"  the  " Detroit 
Free  Press,"  the  "  Chicago  Times,"  and  the  "  New 
York  Herald  "  approved  it.  During  the  ten  days 
of  its  life  all  party  lines  seemed  to  be  obliterated 
in  the  fires  of  popular  enthusiasm  which  it  kindled, 
and  which  was  wholly  unprecedented  in  my  ex- 
perience. I  was  then  on  the  stump  in  my  own 
State,  and  I  found  the  masses  everywhere  so  wild 
with  joy,  that  I  could  scarcely  be  heard  for  their 
shouts.  As  often  as  I  mentioned  the  name  of  "Fre- 
mont," the  prolonged  hurrahs  of  the  multitude  fol- 
lowed, and  the  feeling  seemed  to  be  universal  that 
the  policy  of  "  a  war  on  peace  principles "  was 
abandoned,  and  that  slavery,  the  real  cause  of  the 
war,  was  no  longer  to  be  the  chief  obstacle  to  its 
prosecution. 

But  in  the  midst  of  this  general  exultation  and 
joy  the  President  annulled  the  proclamation  be- 
cause it  went  beyond  the  Confiscation  Act  of  the 
6th  of  August,  and  was  offensive  to  the  Border 
States.  It  was  a  terrible  disappointment  to  the 
Republican  masses,  who  could  not  understand 
why  loyal  slaveholders  in  Kentucky  should  be  of- 
fended because  the  slaves  of  rebels  in  Missouri  were 
declared  free.  From  this  revocation  of  the  new 


200  POLITICAL  RECOLLECT  1 


war  policy,  dated  the  pro-slavery  reaction  which  at 
once  followed.  It  balked  the  popular  enthusiasm 
which  was  drawing  along  with  it  multitudes  of 
conservative  men.  It  caused  timid  and  haltin  , 
men  to  become  cowards  outright.  It  gave  m\\ 
life  to  slavery,  and  encouraged  fiercer  assault^ 
upon  "abolitionism."  It  revived  and  stimulated 
Democratic  sympathy  for  treason  wherever  it  had 
existed,  and  necessarily  prolonged  the  conflict  and 
aggravated  its  sorrows;  while  it  repeated  the  ineffa- 
ble folly  of  still  relying  upon  a  policy  of  modera- 
tion and  conciliation  in  dealing  with  men  who  had 
defiantly  taken  their  stand  outside  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws,  and  could  only  be  reached  by  the 
power  of  war. 

When  Congress  met  in  December,  the  policy  of 
deference  to  slavery  still  continued.  The  message 
of  the  President  was  singularly  dispassionate, 
deprecating  "  radical  and  extreme  measures,"  and 
recommending  some  plan  of  colonization  for  the 
slaves  made  free  by  the  Confiscation  Act.  Secre- 
tary Cameron,  however,  surprised  the  country 
by  the  avowal  of  a  decidedly  anti-slavery  war 
policy  in  his  report;  but  in  a  discussion  in  the 
House  early  in  December,  on  General  Halleck'.s 
"  Order  No.  Three,"  I  took  occasion  to  expose  his 
insincerity  by  referring  to  his  action  a  little  while 
before  in  restoring  to  her  master  a  slave  girl  who 
had  fled  to  the  camp  of  Colonel  Brown,  of  the 
Twentieth  Indiana  regiment,  who  had  refused  to 


NEW ADMfNISTRATION AND  THE  WAR.     2OI 

give  her  up.  On  the  nineteenth  of  December,  a 
joint  select  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War 
was  appointed,  composed  of  three  members  of  the 
Senate  and  four  members  of  the  House.  The 
Senators  were  B.  F.  Wade,  of  Ohio;  Z.  Chandler, 
of  Michigan,  and  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee  ; 
and  the  House  members  were  John  Covode,  of 
Pennsylvania ;  M.  F.  Odell,  of  New  York ;  D.  W. 
Gooch,  of  Massachusetts,  and  myself.  The  com- 
mittee had  its  birth  in  the  popular  demand  for  a 
more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  less 
tenderness  toward  slavery ;  and  I  was  gratified 
with  my  position  on  it  because  it  afforded  a  very 
desirable  opportunity  to  learn  something  of  the 
movements  of  our  armies  and  the  secrets  of  our 
policy. 

On  the  sixth  of  January,  b.y  special  request  of 
the  President,  the  committee  met  him  and  his  Cab- 
inet at  the  Executive  Mansion,  to  confer  about  the 
military  situation.  The  most  striking  fact  revealed 
by  the  discussion  which  took  place  was  that  neither 
the  President  nor  his  advisers  seemed  to  have  any 
definite  information  respecting  the  management  of 
the  war,  or  the  failure  of  our  forces  to  make  any 
forward  movement.  Not  a  man  of  them  pretended 
to  know  anything  of  General  McClellan's  plans. 
We  were  greatly  surprised  to  learn  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln himself  did  not  think  he  had  any  right  to  know, 
but  that,  as  he  was  not  a  military  man,  it  was  his 
duty  to  defer  to  General  McClellan.  Our  grand 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

armies  were  ready  and  eager  to  march,  and  the 
whole  country  was  anxiously  waiting  some  decisive 
movement;  but  during  the  delightful  months  of 
October,  November  and  December,  they  had  been 
kept  idle  for  some  reason  which  no  man  could  ex- 
plain, but  which  the  President  thought  could  be 
perfectly  accounted  for  by  the  General-in-Chief. 
Secretary  Cameron  said  he  knew  nothing  of  any 
plan  for  a  forward  movement.  Secretary  Seward 
had  entire  confidence  in  General  McClellan,  and 
thought  the  demand  of  the  committee  for  a  more 
vigorous  policy  uncalled  for.  The  Postmaster- 
General  made  no  definite  avowals,  while  the  other 
members  of  the  Cabinet  said  nothing,  except  Secre- 
tary Chase,  who  very  decidedly  sympathized  with 
the  committee  in  its  desire  for  some  early  and  deci- 
sive movement  of  our  forces.  The  spectacle  seemed 
to  us  very  disheartening.  The  testimony  of  all  the 
commanding  generals  we  had  examined  showed 
that  our  armies  had  been  ready  to  march  for  months; 
that  the  weather  and  roads  had  been  most  favora- 
ble since  October ;  and  that  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac was  in  a  fine  state  of  discipline,  and  nearly  two 
hundred  thousand  strong,  while  only  about  forty 
thousand  men  were  needed  to  make  Washington 
perfectly  safe.  Not  a  general  examined  could  tell 
why  this  vast  force  had  so  long  been  kept  idle,  or 
what  General  McClellan  intended  to  do.  The  fate 
of  the  nation  seemed  committed  to  one  man  called 
a  "General-in-Chief,"  who  communicated  his 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     203 

secrets  to  no  human  being,  and  who  had  neither 
age  nor  military  experience  to  justify  the  extraor- 
dinary deference  of  the  President  to  his  wishes. 
He  had  repeatedly  appeared  before  the  committee, 
though  not  yet  as  a  witness,  and  we  could  see  no 
evidence  of  his  pre-eminence  over  other  prominent 
commanders ;  and  it  seemed  like  a  betrayal  of  the 
country  itself  to  allow  him  to  hold  our  grand 
armies  for  weeks  and  months  in  unexplained  idle- 
ness, on  the  naked  assumption  of  his  superior  wis- 
dom. Mr.  Wade,  as  Chairman  of  the  committee, 
echoed  its  views  in  a  remarkably  bold  and  vigor- 
ous speech,  in  which  he  gave  a  summary  of  the 
principal  facts  which  had  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  committee,  arraigned  General  McClellan  for 
the  unaccountable  tardiness  of  his  movements,  and 
urged  upon  the  Administration,  in  the  most  undip- 
lomatic plainness  of  speech,  an  immediate  and 
radical  change  in  the  policy  of  the  war.  But  the 
President  and  his  advisers  could  not  yet  be  disen- 
chanted, and  the  conference  ended  without  results. 
When  General  McClellan  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  our  armies  the  country  accepted  him  as  its  idol 
and  hero.  The  people  longed  for  a  great  captain, 
and  on  very  inadequate  grounds  they  assumed 
that  they  had  found  him,  and  that  the  business  of 
war  was  to  be  carried  on  in  earnest.  •  But  they 
were  doomed  to  disappointment,  and  the  popular 
feeling  was  at  length  completely  reversed.  The 
pendulum  vibrated  to  the  other  extreme,  and  it  is 


;  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

not  easy  to  realize  the  wide-spread  popular  discon- 
tent which    finally  revealed    itself   respecting  the 
dilatory   movements   of  our   forces.     The  people 
became  inexpressibly  weary  of  the  reiterated  bul- 
letins that  "all  is  quiet  on  the  Potomac";  and  the 
fact  that  General  McClellan  was  in  full  sympathy 
with   the   Border   State  policy   of    the    President 
aggravated  their  unfriendly  mood.     A  majority  of 
the  members  of  the  committee  became  morbidly 
sensitive,  and  were  practically  incapable  of  doing 
General  McClellan  justice.     They  were  thoroughly 
discouraged   and  disgusted ;  but  when  Secretary 
Cameron  left  the  Cabinet  and  Stanton  took  his 
place,  their  despondency  gave  place  to  hope.     He 
had  faith  in  the  usefulness  of  the  committee,  and 
co-operated  with  it   to   the    utmost.     He   agreed 
with  us  fully  in  our  estimate  of  General  McClellan, 
and  as  to  the  necessity  of  an  early  forward  move- 
ment.    We  were  delighted  with  him,  and  had  per- 
fect confidence  in  his  integrity,  sagacity  and  strong 
will.     We  worked  from  five  to  six  hours  per  day, 
including  the  holiday  season,  and  not  excepting 
the  Sabbath,  going  pretty  thoroughly  into  the  Bull 
Run  disaster,  the  battle  of  Ball's  Bluff,  and  the  man- 
agement of  the  Western  Department. 

During  the  months  of  January  and  February, 
the  committee  made  repeated  visits  to  the  President 
for  the  purpose  of  urging  the  division  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  and  its  organization  into 
army  corps.  We  insisted  upon  this  on  the  strength 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     2O$ 

of  the  earnest  recommendations  of  our  chief  com  - 
manders,  and  with  a  view  to  greater  military  effi- 
ciency ;  but  the  President  said  General  McClellan 
was  opposed  to  it,  and  would,  he  believed,  resign 
his  command  in  the  alternative  of  being  required 
to  do  it.  Mr.  Lincoln  said  he  dreaded  "  the  moral 
effect  of  this  ";  but  in  the  latter  part  of  February, 
he  began  to  lose  his  faith  in*  the  General,  and 
finally,  after  nearly  two  months  of  perseverance  by 
the  committee,  he  gave  his  order  early  in  March, 
which  General  McClellan  obeyed  with  evident  hesi-. 
tation  and  very  great  reluctance.  A  few  days  later 
the  long-tried  patience  of  the  President  became 
perfectly  exhausted.  He  surprised  and  delighted 
the  committee  by  completely  losing  his  temper, 
and  on  the  nth  relieved  General  McClellan  from 
the  command  of  all  our  forces  except  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  The  rebels,  in  the  meantime,  had 
evacuated  their  works  at  Centreville  and  Manassas, 
and  retreated  with  their  munitions  in  safety.  A 
majority  of  the  committee  at  this  time  strongly 
suspected  that  General  McClellan  was  a  traitor, 
and  they  felt  strengthened  in  this  suspicion  by 
what  they  afterward  saw  for  themselves  at  Centre- 
ville and  Manassas,  which  they  visited  on  the 
thirteenth  of  March.  They  were  certain,  at  all 
events,  that  his  heart  was  not  in  the  work.  He 
had  disregarded  the  President's  general  order  of 
the  nineteenth  of  January,  for  a  movement  of  all 
our  armies,  which  resulted  in  the  series  of  vie- 


206  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

lories  of  Fort  Henry,  Fort  Donelson,  etc.,  which 
K>  electrified  the  country.  He  had  protested 
against  the  President's  order  of  the  thirty- first  of 
January,  directing  an  expedition  for  the  purpose 
of  seizing  a  point  upon  the  railroad  southwest  of 
Manassas  Junction.  He  had  opposed  all  forward 
movements  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  reso- 
lutely set  his  face  against  the  division  of  our  forces 
into  army  corps,  as  urged  by  all  our  chief  com- 
manders. And  he  had  again  and  again  refused  to 
co-operate  with  the  navy  in  breaking  up  the 
blockade  of  the  Potomac,  while  his  order  to  move 
in  the  direction  of  the  enemy  at  Centreville  and 
Manassas  was  given  after  the  evacuation  of  these 
points. 

Our  journey  to  Manassas  was  full  of  interest  and 
excitement.  About  ten  miles  from  Washington 
we  came  in  sight  of  a  large  division  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  had  started  toward 
the  enemy  in  obedience  to  the  order  of  General 
McClellan.  The  forest  on  either  side  of  the  road 
was  alive  with  soldiers,  and  their  white  tents  were 
to  be  seen  in  all  directions  through  the  pine  forests, 
while  in  the  adjacent  fields  vast  bodies  of  soldiers 
in  their  uniforms  were  marching  and  counter- 
marching, their  bayonets  glittering  in  the  sun- 
light. Large  bodies  of  cavalry  were  also  in  mo- 
tion, and  the  air  was  filled  with  the  sound  of  mar- 
tial music  and  the  blasts  of  the  bugle.  Soldiers 
not  on  drill  were  running  races,  playing  ball,  and 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     2O? 

enjoying  themselves  generally  in  every  sort  of 
sport.  The  spectacle  was  delightfully  exhilarat- 
ing, and  especially  so  to  men  just  released  from 
the  dreary  confinement  and  drudgery  of  their  com- 
mittee rooms. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    NEW     ADMINISTRATION    AND    TIIK    WAR      (CON- 
TINUED). 

The  wooden  guns — Conference  with  Secretary  Stantou — His 
relations  to  Lincoln — Strife  between  Radicalism  and  Con- 
servatism— Passage  of  the  Homestead  Law — Visit  to  the 
President — The  Confiscation  Act  and  rebel  landowners — 
Greeley's  "prayer  of  twenty  millions,"  and  Lincoln's  rcj.ly 
— Effort  to  disband  the  Republican  party — The  battle  <>f 
Frcdericksburg  and  General  Burnside — The  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation — Visit  to  Mr.  Lincoln — General  Fremont — 
Report  of  the  War  Committee — Visit  to  Philadelphia  and 
New  York— Gerrit  Smith— The  Morgan  R.ii.l. 

ON  approaching  Centreville  the  first  object  that 
attracted  our  attention  was  one  of  the  huge  earth- 
works of  the  enemy,  with  large  logs  placed  in  the 
embrasures,  the  ends  pointing  toward  us,  and 
painted  black,  in  imitation  of  cannon.  The  earth- 
works seemed  very  imperfectly  constructed,  and 
from  this  fact,  and  the  counterfeit  guns  which  sur- 
mounted them,  it  \v,is  evident  that  no  fight  had 
been  seriously  counted  on  by  the  absconding 
forces.  The  substantial  character  of  their  bar- 
racks, bake  ovens,  stables,  and  other  improvements, 
confirmed  this  view ;  and  on  reaching  Manassas 
we  found  the  same  cheap  defenses  and  the  same 

(208) 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     2OQ 

evidences  of  security,  while  the  rebel  forces  were 
much  less  than  half  as  great  as  ours,  and  within  a 
day's  march  from  us.  What  was  the  explanation  of 
all  this  ?  Why  had  we  not,  long  before,  driven  in 
the  rebel  pickets,  and  given  battle  to  the  enemy, 
or  at  least  ascertained  the  facts  as  to  the  weakness 
of  his  position  ?  Could  the  commander  be  loyal 
who  had  opposed  all  the  previous  forward  move- 
ments of  our  forces,  and  only  made  this  advance 
after  the  enemy  had  evacuated  ?  These  were  the 
questions  canvassed  by  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee in  their  passionate  impatience  for  decisive 
measures,  and  which  they  afterward  earnestly 
pressed  upon  the  President  as  a  reason  for  reliev- 
ing General  McClellan  of  his  command.  They 
were  also  greatly  moved  by  the  fact  already 
referred  to,  that  General  McClellan  had  neglected 
and  repeatedly  refused  to  co-operate  with  the  navy 
in  breaking  up  the  blockade  of  the  Potomac,  which 
could  have  been  done  long  before  according  to 
the  testimony  of  our  commanders,  while  he  had 
disobeyed  the  positive  order  of  the  President 
respecting  the  defenses  of  Washington  by  reserv- 
ing only  nineteen  thousand  imperfectly  disciplined 
men  for  that  service,  through  which  the  capital  had 
been  placed  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  Mean- 
while the  flame  of  popular  discontent  had  found 
further  fuel  in  the  threats  of  McClellan  to  put 
down  slave  insurrections  "  with  an  iron  hand,"  and 
his  order  expelling  the  Hutchinson  from  the  Army 
14 


210  POLITICAL  RECOLL1 

of  the  Potomac  for  singing  VVhittier's  songs  of 
liberty.  Of  course  I  am  not  dealing  with  the 
character  and  capacity  of  General  McClellan  as  a 
commander,  but  simply  depicting  the  feeling  which 
extensively  prevailed  at  this  time,  and  which  j  ustified 
itself  by  hastily  accepting  merely  apparent  facts  as 
conclusive  evidence  against  him. 

On  the  24th  day  of  March,  Secretary  Stanton 
sent  for  the  committee  for  the  purpose  of  having  a 
confidential  conference  as  to  military  affairs.  He 
was  thoroughly  discouraged.  He  told  us  the 
President  had  gone  back  to  his  first  love  as  to  Gen- 
eral McClellan,  and  that  it  was  needless  for  him  or 
for  us  to  labor  with  him,  although  he  had  finally 
been  prevailed  on  to  restrict  McClellan's  command 
to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  The  Secretary 
arraigned  the  General's  conduct  in  the  severest 
terms,  particularizing  his  blunders,  and  branding 
them.  He  told  us  the  President  was  so  completely 
in  the  power  of  McClellan  that  he  had  recently 
gone  to  Alexandria  in  person  to  ask  him  for  some 
troops  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  for  General 
Fremont,  which  were  refused.  He  said  he  believed 
there  were  traitors  among  the  commanders  sur- 
rounding General  McClellan,  and  if  he  had  had 
the  power  he  would  have  dismissed  eight  com- 
manders when  the  wooden-gun  discovery  was 
made ;  and  he  fully  agreed  with  us  as  to  the  dis- 
graceful fact  that  our  generals  had  not  long  before 
discovered,  as  they  could  have  done,  the  real 
facts  as  to  the  rebel  forces  and  their  defenses. 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     211 

It  was  quite  evident  from  these  facts  that  Stan- 
ton,  with  all  his  force  of  will,  did  not  rule  the  Presi- 
dent, as  the  public  has  generally  supposed.  He 
would  frequently  overawe  and  sometimes  browbeat 
others,  but  he  was  never  imperious  in  dealing  with 
Mr.  Lincoln.  This  I  have  from  Mr.  Watson,  for 
some  time  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  and  Mr. 
Whiting  while  Solicitor  of  the  War  Department. 
Lincoln,  however,  had  the  highest  opinion  of  Stan- 
ton,  and  their  relations  were  always  most  kindly, 
as  the  following  anecdote  bears  witness :  A  com- 
mittee of  Western  men,  headed  by  Lovejoy,  pro- 
cured from  the  President  an  important  order  look- 
ing to  the  exchange  and  transfer  of  Eastern  and 
Western  soldiers  with  a  view  to  more  effective  work. 
Repairing  to  the  office  of  the  Secretary,  Mr.  Love- 
joy  explained  the  scheme,  as  he  had  before  done  to 
the  President,  but  was  met  with  a  flat  refusal. 

"  But  we  have  the  President's  order,  sir,"  said 
Lovejoy. 

"Did  Lincoln  give  you  an  order  of  that  kind?  " 
said  Stanton. 

"  He  did,  sir." 

"  Then  he  is  a  d d  fool,"  said  the  irate  secre- 
tary. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  the  President  is  a  d d 

fool  ?  "  asked  Lovejoy,  in  amazement. 

"  Yes,  sir,  if  he  gave  you  such  an  order  as  that." 

The  bewildered  Illinoisan  betook  himself  at  once 
to  the  President,  and  related  the  result  of  his  con- 
ference. 


212  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

"  Did  Stanton  say  I  was  a  d d  fool  ?  "  asked 

Lincoln  at  the  close  of  the  recital. 

"  He  did,  sir,  and  repeated  it." 

After  a  moment's  pause,  and  looking  up,  the 

President  said,  "  If  Stanton  said  I  was  a  d d  fool, 

then  I  must  be  one,  for  he  is  nearly  always  right, 
and  generally  says  what  he  means.  I  will  step 
over  and  see  him." 

Whether  this  anecdote  is  literally  true  or  not, 
it  illustrates  the  character  of  the  two  men. 

On  Sunday,  the  thirteenth  of  April,  we  were 
again  summoned  to  meet  Secretary  Stanton,  and  he 
had  also  invited  Thaddeus  Stevens,  of  the  House 
Ways  and  Means  Committee, "Mr.  Fessenden,  of 
the  Senate  Finance  Committee,  and  Mr.  Wilson  and 
Colonel  Blair,  of  the  Senate  and  House  Military 
Committees.  The  business  of  this  conference  was 
to  consider  the  necessity  of  immediate  measures  for 
raising  thirty  million  dollars  to  pay  the  troops  un- 
wisely accepted  by  the  President  in  excess  of  the 
number  called  for  by  Congress,  and  the  proper  action 
to  be  taken  relative  to  the  sale  of  Austrian  guns  by 
a  house  in  New  York  for  shipment  to  the  enemy. 
The  Secretary  was  this  time  in  fine  spirits,  and  I 
was  much  interested  in  the  free  talk  which  occurred. 
Mr.  Stevens  indulged  in  his  customary  bluntness 
of  speech,  including  a  little  spice  of  profanity  by 
way  of  emphasis  and  embellishment.  He  declared 
that  not  a  man  in  the  Cabinet,  the  present  com- 
pany excepted,  was  fit  for  his  business.  Mr.  Fes- 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE   WAR.     21$ 

senden  said  he  fully  endorsed  this,  while  sly  glances 
were  made  at  Colonel  Blair,  whose  brother  was 
thus  palpably  hit.  Mr.  Stevens  said  he  was  tired 

of  hearing  d d  Republican  cowards  talk  about 

the  Constitution ;  that  there  was  no  Constitution 
any  longer  so  far  as  the  prosecution  of  the  war  was 
concerned ;  and  that  we  should  strip  the  rebels  of 
all  their  rights,  and  give  them  a  reconstruction  on 
such  terms  as  would  end  treason  forever.  Secre- 
tary Stanton  agreed  to  every  word  of  this,  and  said 
it  had  been  his  policy  from  the  beginning.  Fes- 
senden  denounced  slave-catching  in  our  army,  and 
referred  to  a  recent  case  in  which  fugitives  came 
to  our  lines  with  the  most  valuable  information  as 
to  rebel  movements,  and  were  ordered  out  of  camp 
into  the  clutches  of  their  hunters.  Stanton  said 
that  ten  days  before  McClellan  marched  toward 
Manassas,  contrabands  had  come  to  him  with  the 
information  that  the  rebels  were  preparing  to  re- 
treat, but  that  McClellan  said  he  could  not  trust 
them.  Wade  was  now  roused,  and  declared  that 
he  had  heard  McClellan  say  he  had  uniformly 
found  the  statements  of  these  people  reliable,  and 
had  got  valuable  information  from  them.  But 
McClellan  was  still  king,  and  the  country  was  a 
long  way  yet  from  that  vigorous  war  policy  which 
alone  could  save  it. 

In  the  meantime  the  strife  between  the  radical  and 
conservative  elements  in  the  Republican  party  found 
expression  in  other  directions.  Secretary  Seward,  in 


214  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

his  letter  to  Mr.  Dayton,  of  the  22d  of  April,  de- 
clared that  "  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  condi- 
tion of  every  human  being  in  them  will  remain  sub- 
ject to  exactly  the  same  laws  and  forms  of  admin- 
istration, whether  the  revolution  shall  succeed  or 
whether  it  shall  fail."  Secretary  Smith  had  pre- 
viously declared,  in  a  public  speech,  that  "  this  is  not 
a  war  upon  the  institution  of  slavery,  but  a  war  for 
the  restoration  of  the  Union,"  and  that  "  there  could 
not  be  found  in  South  Carolina  a  man  more  anxious, 
religiously  and  scrupulously,  to  observe  all  the  feat- 
ures of  the  Constitution,  than  Abraham  Lincoln." 
He  also  opposed  the  arming  of  the  negroes,  declar- 
ing that  "  it  would  be  a  disgrace  to  the  people  of  the 
free  States  to  call  on  four  millions  of  blacks  to  aid 
in  putting  down  eight  millions  of  whites."  Similar 
avowals  were  made  by  other  members  of  the  Cabinet. 
This  persistent  purpose  of  the  Administration  to 
save  the  Union  and  save  slavery  with  it,  naturally 
provoked  criticism,  and  angered  the  anti-slavery 
feeling  of  the  loyal  States.  The  business  of  slave- 
catching  in  the  army  continued  the  order  of  the  day, 
till  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  finally  compelled 
Congress  to  prohibit  it  by  a  new  article  of  war, 
which  was  approved  by  the  President  on  the  1 3th 
of  March.  The  repressive  power  of  the  Administra- 
tion, however,  was  very  formidable,  and  although 
the  House  of  Representatives,  as  early  as  the  2Oth 
of  December,  1861,  had  adopted  a  resolution  offered 
by  myself,  instructing  the  Judiciary  Committee  to 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE   WAR.     215 

report  a  bill  so  amending  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act 
of  1850  as  to  forbid  the  return  of  fugitives  without 
proof  first  made  of  the  loyalty  of  the  claimant,  yet 
on  the  26th  of  May,  1862,  the  House,  then  over- 
whelmingly Republican,  voted  down  a  bill  declar- 
ing free  the  slaves  of  armed  rebels,  and  making 
proof  of  loyalty  by  the  claimant  of  a  fugitive  neces- 
sary to  his  recovery.  This  vote  sorely  disappointed 
the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  country.  On  this 
measure  I  addressed  the  House  in  a  brief  speech, 
the  spirit  of  which  was  heartily  responded  to  by  my 
constituents  and  the  people  of  the  loyal  States  gen- 
erally. They  believed  in  a  vigorous  prosecution  of 
the  war,  and  were  sick  of  "the  never-ending  gabble 
about  the  sacredness  of  the  Constitution."  "  It  will 
not  be  forgotten,"  I  said,  "  that  the  red-handed  mur- 
derers and  thieves  who  set  this  rebellion  on  foot 
went  out  of  the  Union  yelping  for  the  Constitution 
which  they  had  conspired  to  overthrow  by  the 
blackest  perjury  and  treason  that  ever  confronted 
the  Almighty."  This  speech  was  the  key-note  of 
my  approaching  Congressional  canvass,  and  I  was 
one  of  the  very  few  men  of  decided  anti-slavery  con- 
victions who  were  able  to  stem  the  conservative 
tide  which  swept  over  the  Northern  States  during 
this  dark  and  dismal  year.  I  had  against  me  the 
general  drift  of  events  ;  the  intense  hostility  of  Gov- 
ernor Morton  and  his  friends  throughout  the  State  ; 
nearly  all  the  politicians  in  the  District,  and  nine  of 
its  twelve  Republican  newspapers,  and  the  des- 


210  I'OLITtCAL  KECOLLECT1* 

pente  energy  and  cunning  of  trained  leaders  in  both 
political  parties,  who  had  pursued  me  like  vultures 
for  a  dozen  years.  My  triumph  had  no  taint  of 
compromise  in  it,  and  nothing  saved  me  but  perfect 
courage  and  absolute  defiance  of  my  f« 

One  of  the  great  compensations  of  the  \v.u 
the  passage  of  the  Homestead  Act  of  the  2Oth  of 
May.  It  finally  passed  the  House  and  Senate  by 
overwhelming  majorities.  Among  the  last  acts  of 
Mr.  Buchanan's  administration  was  the  veto  of  a 
similar  measure,  at  the  bidding  of  his  Southern 
masters;  and  the  friends  of  the  policy  had  learned 
in  the  struggle  of  a  dozen  years  that  its  success  was 
not  possible  while  slavery  ruled  the  government. 
The  beneficent  operation  of  this  great  and  far- 
reaching  measure,  however,  was  seriously  crippled 
by  some  unfortunate  facts.  In  the  first  place,  it  pro- 
vided no  safeguards  against  speculation  in  the  pub- 
lic domain,  which  had  so  long  scourged  the  West- 
ern States  and  Territories,  and  was  still  extending 
its  ravages.  Our  pioneer  settlers  were  offered  homes 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  each  on  condition 
of  occupancy  and  improvement,  but  the  speculator 
could  throw  himself  across  their  track  by  buying 
up  large  bodies  of  choice  land  to  be  held  back  from 
settlement  and  tillage  for  a  rise  in  price,  and  thus 
force  them  further  into  the  frontier,  and  on  to  less 
desirable  lands. 

In  the  next  place,  under  the  new  and  unguarded 
land-grant  policy,  which  was   simultaneously   in- 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     2 1/ 

augurated,  millions  of  acres  fell  into  the  clutches  of 
monopolists,  and  are  held  by  them  to-day,  which 
would  have  gone  to  actual  settlers  under  the  Home- 
stead law,  and  the  moderate  land -grant  policy  orig- 
inated by  Senator  Douglas  in  1850.  This  was  not 
foreseen  or  intended.  The  nation  was  then  engaged 
in  a  struggle  for  its  existence,  and  thus  exposed  to 
the  evils  of  hasty  legislation.  The  value  of  the  lands 
given  away  was  not  then  understood  as  it  has  been 
since,  while  the  belief  was  universal  that  the  lands 
granted  would  be  restored  to  the  public  domain  on 
failure  to  comply  with  the  conditions  of  the  grants. 
1  The  need  of  great  highways  to  the  Pacific  was  then 
regarded  as  imperative,  and  unattainable  without 
large  grants  of  the  public  lands.  These  are  exten- 
uating facts;  but  the  mischiefs  of  this  ill-starred  leg- 
islation are  none  the  less  to  be  deplored. 

In  the  third  place,  under  our  new  Indian  treaty 
policy,  invented  about  the  same  time,  large  bodies 
of  land,  when  released  by  our  Indian  tribes,  were 
sold  at  low  rates  to  individual  speculators  and  mo- 
nopolists, or  to  railway  corporations,  instead  of  being 
conveyed,  as  before,  to  the  United  States,  and  thus 
subjected  to  general  disposition,  as  other  public 
land.  These  evils  are  now  remedied,  but  for  nearly 
ten  years  they  were  unchecked.  The  title  to  In- 
dian lands  was  secured  through  treaties  concocted 
by  a  ring  of  speculators  and  monopolists  outside  of 
the  Senate,  and  frequently  ratified  by  that  body 
near  the  close  of  a  long  session,  when  less  than  half 


218  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

a  dozen  members  were  in  their  seats,  and  the  entire 
business  was  supervised  by  a  single  Western  sen- 
ator acting  as  the  agent  of  his  employers  and  the 
sharer  in  their  plunder.  These  fatal  mistakes  in  our 
legislation  have  made  the  Homestead  law  a  half- 
way measure,  instead  of  that  complete  reform  in 
our  land  policy  which  was  demanded,  and  they 
furnish  a  remarkable  commentary  upon  the  boasted 
friendship  of  the  Republican  party  for  the  landless 
poor. 

The  conservative  war-policy  of  the  Administra- 
tion continued  to  assert  itself.  The  action  of  the 
President  in  promptly  revoking  the  order  of  Gen- 
eral Hunter,  of  the  ninth  of  May,  declaring  free 
the  slaves  of  the  States  of  Georgia,  Florida,  and 
South  Carolina,  aggravated  the  growing  impa- 
tience of  the  people.  On  the  ninth  day  of  June 
I  submitted  a  resolution  instructing  the  judiciary 
committee  to  report  a  bill  repealing  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Act,  which  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote 
of  sixty-six  to  fifty-one,  sixteen  Republicans  vot- 
ing in  the  affirmative.  On  the  second  of  July  I 
called  to  see  the  President,  and  had  a  familiar 
talk  about  the  war.  He  looked  thin  and  haggard, 
but  seemed  cheerful.  Although  our  forces  were 
then  engaged  in  a  terrific  conflict  with  the  enemy 
near  Richmond,  and  everybody  was  anxious  as  to 
the  result,  he  was  quite  as  placid  as  usual,  and 
could  not  resist  his  "  ruling  passion "  for  anec- 
dotes. If  I  had  judged  him  by  appearances  I 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     219 

should  have  pronounced  him  incapable  of  any 
deep  earnestness  of  feeling ;  but  his  manner  was 
so  kindly,  and  so  free  from  the  ordinary  crook- 
edness of  the  politician  and  the  vanity  and  self- 
importance  of  official  position,  that  nothing  but 
good-will  was  inspired  by  his  presence.  He  was 
still  holding  fast  his  faith  in  General  McClellan, 
and  this  was  steadily  widening  the  breach  between 
him  and  Congress,  and  periling  the  success  of  the 
war.  The  general  gloom  in  Washington  increased 
till  the  adjournment,  but  Mr.  Sumner  still  had 
faith  in  the  President,  and  prophesied  good  things 
as  to  his  final  action. 

The  Confiscation  Act  of  this  session,  which  was 
approved  by  the  President  on  the  seventeenth  day 
of  July,  providing  that  slaves  of  rebels  coming  into 
our  lines  should  be  made  free,  and  that  the 
property  of  their  owners,  both  real  and  personal, 
should  be  confiscated,  would  have  given  great  and 
wide-spread  satisfaction ;  but  the  President  refused 
to  sign  the  bill  without  a  modification  first  made 
exempting  the  fee  of  rebel  land-owners  from  its 
operation,  thus  powerfully  aiding  them  in  their 
deadly  struggle  against  us.  This  action  was  inex- 
pressibly provoking;  but  Congress  was  obliged 
to  make  the  modification  required,  as  the  only 
means  of  securing  the  important  advantages  of 
other  features  of  the  measure.  This  anti-republi- 
can discrimination  between  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty when  the  nation  was  struggling  for  its  life 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

against  a  rebellious  aristocracy  founded  on  the 
monopoly  of  land  and  the  ownership  of  negroes, 
roused  a  popular  opposition  which  thus  far  was 
altogether  unprecedented.  The  feeling  in  Con- 
gress, however,  was  far  more  intense  than  through- 
out the  country.  No  one  at  a  distance  could  have 
formed  any  adequate  conception  of  the  hostility  of 
Republican  members  toward  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the 
final  adjournment,  while  it  was  the  belief  of  many 
that  our  last  session  of  Congress  had  been  held  in 
Washington.  Mr.  Wade  said  the  country  was 
going  to  hell,  and  that  the  scenes  witnessed  in  the 
French  Revolution  were  nothing  in  comparison 
with  what  we  should  see  here. 

Just  before  leaving  Washington  I  called  on  the 
President  again,  and  told  him  I  was  going  to  take 
the  stump,  and  to  tell  the  people  that  he  would  co- 
operate with  Congress  in  vigorously  carrying  out 
the  measures  we  had  inaugurated  for  the  purpose 
of  crushing  the  rebellion,  and  that  now  the  quickest 
and  hardest  blows  were  to  be  dealt.  He  told  me 
I  was  authorized  to  say  so,  but  said  that  more 
than  half  the  popular  clamor  against  the  manage- 
ment of  the  war  was  unwarranted^  and  when  I  re- 
ferred to  the  movements  of  General  McClellan  he 
made  no  committal  in  any  way. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  August  Horace  Greeley 
wrote  his  famous  anti-slavery  letter  to  the  Presi- 
dent, entitled  "  The  Prayer  of  Twenty  Millions."  It 
was  one  of  the  most  powerful  appeals  ever  made  in 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     221 

behalf  of  justice  and  the  rights  of  man.  In  his 
reply  Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "If  I  could  save  the  Union 
without  freeing  any  slave,!  would  do  it;  if  I  could 
save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and 
if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  oth- 
ers alone,  I  would  do  that."  These  words  served 
as  fresh  fuel  to  the  fires  of  popular  discontent,  and 
they  were  responded  to  by  Mr.  Greeley  with  ad- 
mirable vigor  and  earnestness.  The  anti-slavery 
critics  of  the  President  insisted  that  in  thus  dealing 
with  slavery  as  a  matter  of  total  indifference  he 
likened  himself  to  Douglas,  who  had  declared 
that  he  didn't  care  whether  slavery  was  voted  up  or 
voted  down  in  the  Territories.  They  argued  that 
as  slavery  was  the  cause  of  the  war  and  the 
obstacle  to  peace,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  lay  hold  of  the  conscience  of  the 
quarrel,  and  strike  at  slavery  as  the  grand  rebel. 
Not  to  do  so,  they  contended,  now  that  the  oppor- 
tunity was  offered,  was  to  make  the  contest  a  mere 
struggle  for  power,  and  thus  to  degrade  it  to  the 
level  of  the  wars  of  the  Old  World,  which  bring 
with  them  nothing  for  freedom  or  the  race.  They 
insisted  that  the  failure  of  the  Government  to  give 
freedom  to  our  millions  in  bondage  would  be  a 
crime  only  to  be  measured  by  that  of  putting  them 
in  chainsif  they  were  free.  Theyreminded  the  Presi- 
dent of  his  declaration  that  a  house  divided  against 
itself  can  not  stand,  and  that  the  Republic  can 
not  permanently  exist  half  slave  and  half  free;  and 


222  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

they  urged  that  this  baptism  of  fire  and  blood  would 
be  impious  if  the  cause  which  produced  it  should 
be  spared  to  canker  the  heart  of  the  nation  anew, 
and  repeat  its  diabolical  deeds.  A  Union  with 
slaver>r  spared  and  reinstated  would  not  be  worth 
the  cost  of  saving  it.  To  argue  that  we  were 
fighting  for  a  political  abstraction  called  the  Union, 
and  not  for  the  destruction  of  slavery,  was  to 
affront  common  sense,  since  nothing  but  slavery 
had  brought  the  Union  into  peril,  and  nothing  could 
make  sure  the  fruits  of  the  war  but  the  removal  of 
its  cause.  It  was  to  delude  ourselves  with  mere 
phrases,  and  conduct  the  war  on  false  pretenses. 
It  was  to  rival  the  folly  of  the  rebels,  who  always 
asseverated  that  they  were  not  fighting  for  slavery, 
but  only  for  the  right  of  local  self  government, 
when  the  whole  world  knew  the  contrary.  These 
ideas,  variously  presented  and  illustrated,  found 
manifold  expression  in  innumerable  Congressional 
speeches  and  in  the  newspapers  of  the  Northern 
States,  and  a  month  later  brought  forth  the  Presi- 
dent's proclamation  of  the  twenty-second  of  Sep- 
tember, giving  the  insurgents  notice  that  on  the 
first  day  of  January  following  he  would  issue  his 
proclamation  of  general  emancipation,  if  they  did 
not  in  the  meantime  lay  down  their  arms.  The 
course  of  events  and  the  pressure  of  opinion  were  at 
last  forcing  him  to  see  that  the  nation  was  wrest- 
ling with  slavery  in  arms ;  that  its  destruction 
was  not  a  debatable  and  distant  alternative,  but  a 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     223 

pressing  and  absolute  necessity;  and  that  his 
Border  State  policy,  through  which  he  had  so  long 
tried  to  pet  and  please  the  power  that  held  the 
nation  by  the  throat,  was  a  cruel  and  fatal  mistake. 
This  power,  however,  had  so  completely  woven 
itself  into  the  whole  fabric  of  American  society  and 
institutions,  and  had  so  long  fed.  upon  the  virtue  of 
our  public  men,  that  the  Administration  was  not  yet 
prepared  to  divorce  itself  entirely  from  the  madness 
that  still  enthralled  the  conservative  element  of  the 
Republican  party. 

It  was  during  this  year  that  a  formidable  effort 
was  made  by  the  old  Whig  element  in  the  Republi- 
can party  to  disband  the  organization  and  form  a 
new  one,  called  the  "  Union  party."  They  were  dis- 
posed to  blame  the  Abolitionists  for  the  halting 
march  of  events,  and  to  run  away  from  the  real 
issues  of  the  conflict.  They  were  believers  in  the 
Border  State  policy,  and  favored  the  colonization 
of  the  negroes,  while  deprecating  "  radical  and  ex- 
treme measures."  They  forgot  that  the  Republi- 
can principle  was  as  true  in  the  midst  of  war  as  in 
seasons  of  peace,  and  that  instead  of  putting  it  in 
abeyance  when  the  storm  came,  we  should  cling  to 
it  with  redoubled  energy  and  purpose.  They  for- 
got that  the  contest  of  1860  was  not  only  a  strug- 
gle between  slavery  and  freedom,  but  a  struggle  of 
life  and  death,  inasmuch  as  the  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  all  federal  territory  would  not  only  put  the 
nation's  brand  upon  it  in  the  States  of  the  South, 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


and  condemn  it  as  a  public  enemy,  but  virtually 
sentence  it  to  death.  They  forgot  that  the  charge 
of  "abolitioniMii."  which  was  incessantly  hurled  at 
the  Republican  party  ,was  thus  by  no  means  wanting 
in  essential  truth,  and  that  when  the  slaveholders 
were  vanquished  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
their  appeal  from  the  ballot  to  the  bullet  was  til- 
logical  result  of  their  insane  devotion  to  slavery, 
and  their  conviction  that  nothing  could  save  it  but 
the  dismemberment  of  the  Republic.  They  forgot 
that  the  Rebellion  was  simply  an  advanced  stage  of 
slaveholding  rapacity,  and  that  instead  of  tempting  us 
to  cower  before  it  and  surrender  our  principles,  it 
furnished  an  overwhelming  argument  for  standing 
by  them  to  the  death.  This  movement  was  fruitful  of 
great  mischief  throughout  the  loyal  States,  and  on 
my  return  to  Washington  in  the  fall  of  this  year 
I  was  glad  to  find  this  fact  generally  admitted,  and 
my  earnest  opposition  to  it  fully  justified  by  the 
judgment  of  Republican  members  of  Congress. 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Fredricksburg,  on 
the  1  3th  of  December,  the  Committee  on  the  Con- 
duct of  the  War  visited  that  place  for  the  purpose 
of  inquiring  into  the  facts  respecting  that  fearful 
disaster.  The  country  was  greatly  shocked  and  ex- 
cited, and  eager  to  know  who  was  to  blame.  We 
examined  Burnside,  Hooker,  Sumner,  and  Wood- 
bury;  but  prior  to  this,  in  a  personal  interview  with 
General  Burnside,  he  frankly  told  me  that  he  was 
responsible  for  the  attack.  He  seemed  to  be  loaded 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.      22$ 

down  with  a  mountain  of  trouble  and  anxiety,  and 
I  could  see  that  he  felt  just  as  a  patriotic  man  nat- 
urally would,  after  sacrificing  thousands  of  men  by 
a  mistaken  movement.  He  said  he  had  no  military 
ambition,  and  frankly  confessed  his  incapacity  to 
command  a  large  army,  as  he  had  done  to  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary  of  War,  when  they  urged  him 
to  assume  this  great  responsibility;  and  that  he  was 
very  sorry  he  had  ever  consented  to  accept  it. 
His  conversation  disarmed  all  criticism,  while  his 
evident  honesty  decidedly  pleased  me.  It  was  a 
sad  thought,  while  standing  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rappahannock,  that  here  were  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  men  on  either  side  of  a  narrow  river, 
brethren  and  kindred,  and  naturally  owing  each 
other  nothing  but  good  will,  who  were  driven  by 
negro  slavery  into  the  wholesale  slaughter  of  each 
other.  But  General  Burnside  told  me  our  men  did 
not  feel  toward  the  rebels  as  they  felt  toward  us, 
and  he  assured  me  that  this  was  the  grand  obstacle 
to  our  success.  Our  soldiers,  he  said,  were  not 
sufficiently  fired  by  resentment,  and  he  exhorted 
me,  if  I  could,  to  breathe  into  our  people  at  home 
the  same  spirit  toward  our  enemies  which  inspired 
them  toward  us.  As  I  approached  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal hospitals  here,  I  was  startled  by  a  pile  of  arms 
and  legs  of  wounded  soldiers,  and  on  entering  the 
building  I  found  scores  of  men  in  the  last  stages  of 
life,  stretched  on  the  floor  with  nothing  under  them 
but  a  thin  covering  of  hay,  and  nothing  over  them 
15 


226  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

but  a  coarse  blanket  or  quilt,  and  without  a  spark 
of  fire  to  warm  them,  though  the  weather  was  ex- 
tremely cold  and  they  were  literally  freezing  to 
death.  Some  of  them  were  too  far  gone  to  speak, 
and  looked  at  me  so  pleadingly  that  I  can  never 
forget  the  impression  it  made.  Arrangements  were 
made  for  their  comfort  as  soon  as  it  was  possible. 

On  New  Year's  day  I  joined  the  immense  throng 
of  callers  at  the  White  House,  but  did  not  enjoy 
the  delay  of  the  President  in  issuing  his  Proclama- 
tion of  Emancipation.  It  came  late  in  the  day,  and 
brought  relief  to  multitudes  of  anxious  people. 
Perhaps  no  subject  has  ever  been  more  widely 
misunderstood  than  the  legal  effect  of  this  famous 
document,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  issued.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  himself  opposed  to 
the  measure,  and  when  he  very  reluctantly  issued  his 
preliminary  proclamation  in  September,  he  wished 
it  distinctly  understood  that  the  deportation  of 
the  slaves  was,  in  his  mind,  inseparably  connected 
with  the  policy.  Like  Mr.  Clay  and  other  promi- 
nent leaders  of  the  old  Whig  party,  he  believed  in 
colonization,  and  that  the  separation  of  the  two 
races  was  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  both.  He 
was  at  that  time  pressing  upon  the  attention  of. 
Congress  a  scheme  of  colonization  in  Chiriqui  in 
Central  America,  which  Senator  Pomeroy  espoused 
with  great  zeal,  and  in  which  he  had  the  favor  of  a 
majority  of  the  Cabinet,  including  Secretary  Smith, 
who  warmly  endorsed  the  project.  Subsequent 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     22/ 

developments,  however,  proved  that  it  was  simply 
an  organization  for  land -stealing  and  plunder,  and 
it  was  abandoned ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
if  the  President  had  foreseen  this  fact,  his  prelim- 
inary notice  to  the  rebels  would  have  been  given. 
There  are  strong  reasons  for  saying  that  he  doubt- 
ed his  right  to  emancipate  under  the  war  power, 
and  that  he  meant  what  he  said  when  he  compared 
an  executive  order  to  that  effect  to  the  "  Pope's 
Bull  against  the  Comet." 

But  he  saw  no  way  of  escape.  The  demand  foi 
such  an  edict  was  wide-spread  and  rapidly  extend- 
ing in  the  Republican  party.  The  power  to  issue 
it  was  taken  for  granted.  All  doubts  on  the  sub- 
ject were  consumed  in  the  burning  desire  of  the 
people,  or  forgotten  in  the  travail  of  war.  The 
anti-slavery  element  was  becoming  more  and  more 
impatient  and  impetuous.  Opposition  to  that 
element  now  involved  more  serious  consequences 
than  offending  the  Border  States.  Mr.  Lincoln 
feared  that  enlistments  would  cease,  and  that  Con- 
gress would  even  refuse  the  necessary  supplies  to 
carry  on  the  war,  if  he  declined  any  longer  to  place 
it  on  a  clearly  defined  anti-slavery  basis.  It  was  in 
yielding  to  this  pressure  that  he  finally  became  the 
liberator  of  the  slaves  through  the  triumph  of  our 
arms  which  it  ensured. 

The  authority  to  emancipate  under  the  war 
power  is  well  settled,  but  it  could  only  be  asserted 
over  territory  occupied  by  our  armies.  Each  Com- 
manding General,  as  fast  as  our  flag  advanced, 


228  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

could  have  offered  freedom  to  the  slaves,  as  could 
the  President  himself.  This  was  the  view  of  Secre- 
tary Chase.  A  paper  proclamation  of  freedom,  as 
to  States  in  the  power  of  the  enemy,  could  have  no 
more  validity  than  a  paper  blockade  of  their  coast. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  proclamation  did  not  apply  to  the 
Border  States,  which  were  loyal,  and  in  which 
slavery  was  of  course  untouched.  It  did  not  pre- 
tend to  operate  upon  the  slaves  in  other  large  dis- 
tricts, in  which  it  would  have  been  effective  at  once, 
but  studiously  excluded  them,  while  it  applied  main- 
ly to  States  and  parts  of  States  within  the  military 
occupation  of  the  enemy,  where  it  was  necessarily 
void.  But  even  if  the  proclamation  could  have 
given  freedom  to  the  slaves  according  to  its  scope, 
their  permanent  enfranchisement  would  not  have 
been  secured,  because  the  status  of  slavery,  as  it  ex 
isted  under  the  local  laws  of  the  States  prior  to  the 
war,  would  have  remained  after  the  re-establishment 
of  peace.  All  emancipated  slaves  found  in  those 
States,  or  returning  to  them,  would  have  been  sub- 
ject to  slavery  as  before,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
no  military  proclamation  could  operate  to  abolish 
their  municipal  laws.  Nothing  short  of  a  Consti- 
tutional amendment  could  at  once  give  freedom  to 
our  black  millions  and  make  their  re-enslavement 
impossible ;  and  "  this,"  as  Mr.  Lincoln  declared 
in  earnestly  urging  its  adoption,  "  is  a  king's  cure 
for  all  evils.  It  winds  the  whole  thing  up."  All 
this  is  now  attested  by  very  high  authorities  on 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     229 

International  and  Constitutional  law ;  and  while  it 
takes  nothing  from  the  honor  so  universally  ac- 
corded to  Mr.  Lincoln  as  the  great  Emancipator,  it 
shows  how  wisely  he  employed  a  grand  popular 
delusion  in  the  salvation  of  his  country.  His  proc- 
lamation had  no  present  legal  effect  within  terri- 
tory not  under  the  control  of  our  arms ;  but  as  an 
expression  of  the  spirit  of  the  people  and  the  policy 
of  the  Administration,  it  had  become  both  a  moral 
and  a  military  necessity. 

During  this  month  I  called  with  the  Indiana 
delegation  to  see  the  President  respecting  the  ap- 
pointment of  Judge  Otto,  of  Indiana,  as  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Interior.  He  was  afterward  ap- 
pointed, but  Mr.  Lincoln  then  only  responded  to 
our  application  by  treating  us  to  four  anecdotes. 
Senator  Lane  told  me  that  when  the  President 
heard  a  story  that  pleased  him  he  took  a  mem- 
orandum of  it  and  filed  it  away  among  his  papers. 
This  was  probably  true.  At  any  rate,  by  some 
method  or  other,  his  supply  seemed  inexhaustible, 
and  always  aptly  available.  Early  in  February 
General  Burnside  came  before  the  War  Commit- 
tee, and  gave  the  most  startling  testimony  as  to 
the  demoralization  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
the  bickerings  and  jealousies  of  the  commanding 
generals,  and  the  vexations  of  the  President  in 
dealing  with  the  situation.  On  the  i8th  of  March 
I  called  on  Mr.  Lincoln  respecting  the  appoint- 
ments I  had  recommended  under  the  conscription 
law,  and  took  occasion  to  refer  to  the  failure  of . 


230  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

General  Fremont  to  obtain  a  command.  He  said 
he  did  not  know  where  to  place  him,  and  that  it 
reminded  him  of  the  old  man  who  advised  his  son 
to  take  a  wife,  to  which  the  young  man  responded, 
"  Whose  wife  shall  I  take  ?"  The  President  pro- 
ceeded  to  point  out  the  practical  difficulties  in  the 
way  by  referring  to  a  number  of  important  com- 
mands which  might  suit  Fremont,  but  which 
could  only  be  reached  by  removals  he  did  not  wish 
to  make.  I  remarked  that  I  was  very  sorry  if 
this  was  true,  and  that  it  was  unfortunate  for  our 
cause,  as  I  believed  his  restoration  to  duty  would 
stir  the  country  as  no  other  appointment  could. 
He  said,  "  it  would  stir  the  country  on  one  side. 
and  stir  it  the  other  way  on  the  other.  It  would 
please  Fremont's  friends,  and  displease  the  con- 
servatives ;  and  that  is  all  I  can  see  in  the  stirring 
argument."  "  My  proclamation,"  he  added,  "  was 
to  stir  the  country ;  but  it  has  done  about  as  much 
harm  as  good."  These  observations  were  charac- 
teristic, and  showed  how  reluctant  he  was  to  turn 
away  from  the  conservative  counsels  he  had  so 
long  heeded. 

On  the  3d  day  of  April  the  final  report  of  the 
Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War  was  com- 
pleted, and  the  portion  of  it  relating  to  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Associated 
Press,  and  awaited  by  the  public  with  a  curiosity 
which  it  is  not  easy  now  to  realize.  The  forma- 
tion of  the  committee,  as  already  stated,  grew  out 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.     2$l 

of  the  popular  demand  for  a  more  vigorous  war 
policy,  and  its  action  was  thus  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  hasty  conclusions ;  but  the  press  and 
public  opinion  of  the  loyal  States,  with  remarkable 
unanimity,  credited  it  with  great  usefulness  to  the 
country,  through  its  labors  to  rescue  the  control 
of  the  war  from  incompetent  and  unworthy  hands. 
I  returned  home  by  way  of  Philadelphia  and 
New  York,  and  had  a  delightful  visit  in  the  former 
place  with  James  and  Lucretia  Mott,  whom  I  had 
not  seen  since  1850.  In  New  York  I  attended  the 
great  "  Sumter  meeting  "  of  the  I3th,  and  spoke 
at  one  of  the  stands  with  General  Fremont  and 
Roscoe  Conkling.  While  in  the  city  I  met  Mr. 
Bryant,  Phebe  Carey,  Mr.  Beecher  and  other 
notables,  and  on  my  way  home  tarried  two  days 
with  Gerrit  Smith,  at  his  hospitable  home  in  Peter- 
boro.  According  to  his  custom  he  invited  a  num- 
ber of  his  neighbors  and  friends  to  breakfast,  and 
by  special  invitation  I  addressed  the  people 
in  the  evening,  at  the  "free  church"  of  the 
town,  on  topics  connected  with  the  war.  I  could 
see  that  Mr.  Smith  did  not  approve  the  sever- 
ity of  my  language,  and  that  this  was  a  source 
of  amusement  to  some  of  his  neighbors,  but 
the  course  of  events  afterward  radically  changed 
his  views,  and  he  admitted  that  in  his  public 
addresses  he  was  greatly  aided  by  the  impre- 
catory psalms.  I  had  several  delightful  rambles 
with  him,  our  conversation  turning  chiefly  upon 
reformatory  and  theological  topics,  and  I  found 


232  /'('////(.//.  KECOLL1 

myself  more  than  ever  in  love  with  this  venerable 
philanthropist  whom  I  had  only  met  once  before, 
on  his  visit  to  Washington  the  previous  year. 

On  the  night  of  the  8th  of  July  the  fire-bells  of 
the  town  of  Centrcvillc,  in  which  I  resided,  roused 
the  people,  who  rushed  into  the  streets  to  learn  that 
General  John  Morgan,  with  six  thousand  cavalry 
and  four  pieces  of  artillery,  had  crossed  the  Ohio, 
and  was  moving  upon  the  town  of  Corydon.  Tin- 
Governor  had  issued  a  call  for  minute  men  for  the 
defense  of  the  State,  and  within  forty-eight  hours 
sixty  five  thousand  men  tendered  their  services. 
Messengers  were  at  once  dispatched  to  all  parts  of 
Wayne  County  conveying  the  news  of  the  invasion, 
and  the  next  morning  the  people  came  pouring  in 
from  all  directions,  while  the  greatest  excitement 
prevailed.  The  town  had  eighty  muskets,  belong- 
ing to  its  Home  Guard,  and  I  took  one  of  them, 
which  I  afterward  exchanged  for  a  good  French 
rifle ;  and  having  put  on  the  military  equipments, 
and  supplied  myself  with  a  blanket  and  canteen,  I 
was  ready  for  marching  orders.  The  volunteers 
who  rallied  at  Centreville  were  shipped  to  Indian- 
apolis, and  were  about  seven  hours  on  the  way.  I 
was  a  member  of  Company  C,  and  the  regiment 
to  which  I  belonged  was  the  One  Hundred  and 
Sixth,  and  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Isaac  P. 
Gray.  Of  the  force  which  responded  to  the  call  of 
the  Governor,  thirteen  regiments  and  one  battalion 
were  organized  specially  for  the  emergency,  and 


NEW  ADMINISTRATION  AND  THE  WAR.    233 

sent  into  the  field  in  different  directions,  except  the 
One  Hundred  and  Tenth  and  the  One  Hundred  and 
Eleventh,  which  remained  at  Indianapolis.  The 
One  Hundred  and  Sixth  was  shipped  by  rail  to 
Cincinnati,  and  but  for  a  detention  of  several  hours 
at  Indianapolis,  caused  by  the  drunkenness  of  an 
officer  high  in  command,  it  might  possibly  have 
encountered  Morgan  near  Hamilton,  the  next 
morning,  on  the  way  South.  Our  reception  in  Cin- 
cinnati was  not  very  flattering.  The  people  there 
seemed  to  feel  that  Ohio  was  able  to  take  care  of 
herself;  and,  in  fact,  nothing  could  have  been  more 
unreasonable  than  sending  a  body  of  infantry  one 
hundred  miles  in  pursuit  of  a  cavalry  force  in  that 
vicinity,  where  an  ample  body  of  cavalry  was  in 
readiness,  and  the  river  well  guarded  by  gun-boats. 
We  were  re-shipped  to  Indianapolis  by  rail, 
where  we*  were  mustered  out  of  service  and  returned 
to  our  homes  after  a  campaign  of  eight  days.  This 
was  the  sum  of  my  military  experience,  but  it  af- 
forded me  some  glimpses  of  the  life  of  a  soldier, 
and  supplied  me  with  some  startling  facts  respect- 
ing the  curse  of  intemperance  in  our  armies. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

INCIDENTS    AND    END   OF  THE  WAR. 

Campaigning  in  Ohio— Attempted  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law — Organized  movement  in  favor  of  Chase  for  the  Presi- 
dency— Confiscation  of  rebel  lands — Fort  Pillow  and  the 
treatment  of  Union  soldiers  at  Richmond — Mr.  Lincoln's 
letter  to  Hodges — Southern  Homestead  Bill  and  controversy 
with  Mr.  Mallory — Nomination  of  Andrew  Johnson — Enforce- 
ment of  party  discipline — Mr.  Lincoln's  change  of  opinion 
as  to  confiscation  of  rebel  lands — Opposition  to  him  in 
Congress — General  Fremont  and  Montgomery  Blair — Visit 
to  City  Point — Adoption  of  the  XIII  Constitutional  Amend- 
ment— Trip  to  Richmond  and  incidents — Assassination  of  the 
President — Inauguration  of  Johnson  and  announcement  of  his 
policy — Feeling  toward  Mr.  Lincoln  —  Capitulation  with 
Gen.  Johnson. 

IN  the  latter  part  of  July  of  this  year  I  addressed 
several  meetings  in  Ohio,  in  company  with  Gov. 
Brough,  beginning  at  Toledo.  His  speeches  were 
too  conservative  for  the  times,  as  he  soon  discov- 
ered by  their  effect  upon  the  people;  but  I  found 
him  singularly  genial  and  companionable,  and  full 
of  reminiscences  of  his  early  intimacy  with  Jack- 
son, Van  Buren  and  Silas  Wright.  Early  in  Sep- 
tember I  returned  to  Ohio  to  join  Hon.  John  A. 
Bingham  in  canvassing  Mr.  Ashley's  district  under 
the  employment  of  the  State  Republican  Commit- 
(234) 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        235 

tee.  Mr.  Vallandingham,  then  temporarily  colo- 
nized in  Canada,  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
Governor,  and  the  canvass  was  "  red-hot."  At  no 
time  during  the  war  did  the  spirit  of  war  more 
completely  sway  the  loyal  masses.  It  was  no 
time  to  mince  the  truth,  or  "  nullify  damnation 
with  a  phrase,"  and  I  fully  entered  into  the  spirit 
of  General  Burnside's  advice  already  referred  to,  to 
breathe  into  the  hearts  of  the  people  a  feeling  of 
animosity  against  the  rebels  akin  to  that  which  in- 
spired their  warfare  against  us.  I  remember  that 
at  one  of  the  mass- meetings  I  attended,  where  Col. 
Gibson  was  one  of  the  speakers,  a  Cincinnati 
reporter  who  had  prepared  himself  for  his  work 
dropped  his  pencil  soon  after  the  oratorical  fire- 
works began,  and  listened  with  open  mouth  and 
the  most  rapt  attention  till  the  close  of  the  speech  ; 
and  he  afterward  wrote  to  his  employer  an  account 
of  the  meeting,  in  which  he  said  that  reporting 
was  simply  impossible,  and  he  could  only  say  the 
speaking  was  "beautifully  terrible."  As  a  stump- 
speaker  Col.  Gibson  was  then  without  a  rival  in 
the  West.  His  oratory  was  an  irresistible  fascina- 
tion, and  no  audience  could  ever  grow  tired  of  him. 
The  speeches  of  Mr.  Bingham  were  always  admi- 
rable. His  rhetoric  was  singularly  charming.  He 
was  an  artist  in  his  work,  but  seldom  repeated  him- 
self, while  gathering  fresh  inspiration,  and  following 
some  new  line  of  thought  at  every  meeting.  After 
our  work  was  done  in  the  Toledo  district  I  accom- 


2j6  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


Mr.  Ashley  to  Jefferson,  where  he  and 
others  were  to  address  a  mass-meeting,  which  we 
found  assembled  in  front  of  the  court  house.  The 
day  was  rainy  and  dismal,  and  the  meeting  had  al- 
ready been  in  session  for  hours  ;  but  after  addi- 
tional speeches  by  Ashley  and  Hutch  ins  I  was  so 
loudly  called  for  a  little  while  before  sunset,  that  I 
responded  for  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour, 
when  I  proposed  to  conclude,  the  people  having 
been  detained  already  over  four  hours  while 
standing  in  a  cold  drizzling  rain  ;  but  the  cry  of 
"  go  on  "  was  very  emphatic,  and  seemed  to  be 
unanimous.  "  Go  ahead,"  said  a  farmer,  "  we'll 
hear  you  ;  it's  past  milking  time  anyhow  !  "  It 
seemed  to  me  I  had  never  met  such  listeners.  I 
was  afterward  informed  that  the  test  of  effective 
speaking  on  the  Reserve  is  the  ability  to  hold  an 
audience  from  their  milking  when  the  time  for  it 
comes,  and  I  thought  I  passed  this  test  splendidly. 
After  my  retnrn  from  Ohio  I  made  a  brief  canvass 
in  Iowa,  along  with  Senator  Harlan  and  Governor 
Stone,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  fall  on  the 
stump  in  my  own  State. 

In  the  38th  Congress,  Speaker  Colfax  made  me 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands,  which 
gratified  me  much.  It  opened  a  coveted  field  of 
labor  on  which  I  entered  with  zeal.  On  the  I4th 
of  December  I  introduced  a  bill  for  the  repeal  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  in  order  to  test  the 
sense  of  the  House  on  the  question,  I  offered  a  reso- 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        237 

lution  instructing  the  Judiciary  Committee  to  re- 
port such  a  bill.  Greatly  to  my  astonishment  it 
was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  yeas  eighty-two, 
nays  seventy-four.  Many  Republicans  declined  to 
vote,  and  we  were  evidently  still  under  the  linger- 
ing spell  of  slavery.  Early  in  January  an  organized 
movement  was  set  on  foot  in  the  interest  of  Mr. 
Chase  for  the  Presidency,  and  I  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  a  Central  Committee  which  was  appointed 
for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  enterprise.  I  was  a 
decided  friend  of  Mr.  Chase,  and  as  decidedly  dis- 
pleased with  the  hesitating  military  policy  of  the 
Administration  ;  but  on  reflection  I  determined  to 
withdraw  from  the  committee  and  let  the  presiden- 
tial matter  drift.  I  had  no  time  to  devote  to  the 
business,  and  I  found  the  committee  inharmonious, 
and  composed,  in  part,  of  men  utterly  unfit  and  un- 
worthy to  lead  in  such  a  movement.  It  was  fear- 
fully mismanaged.  A  confidential  document  known 
as  the  "  Pomeroy  circular,"  assailing  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  urging  the  claims  of  Mr.  Chase,  was  sent  to 
numerous  parties,  and  of  course  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Mr%  Lincoln's  friends.  They  became  greatly  ex- 
cited, and  by  vigorous  counter  measures  created  a 
strong  reaction.  A  serious  estrangement  between 
the  President  and  his  Secretary  was  the  result, 
which  lasted  for  several  months.  The  Chase  move- 
ment collapsed,' and  when  the  Republican  members 
of  the  Ohio  Legislature  indorsed  the  re-nomination 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Chase  withdrew  from  the  con- 


I  ;  X  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTS 

test.  The  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  however,  con- 
tinued, and  was  secretly  cherished  by  many  of  the 
ablest  and  most  patriotic  men  in  the  party.  The 
extent  of  their  opposition  in  Congress  can*  never  be 
known,  and  it  was  greatly  aggravated  by  successive 
military  failures;  but  it  lacked  both  courage  and 
leadership,  and  culminated  in  the  nomination  of 
General  Fremont  in  the  latter  part  of  May. 

In  this  Congress  a  new  joint  select  committee 
on  the  "conduct  of  the  war"  was  organized, 
armed  with  new  powers,  and  authorized  to  sit  in 
vacation ;  and  in  common  with  most  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  former  committee  I  was  re-appointed. 
During  the  latter  part  of  January  I  reported  from 
the  Committee  on  Public  Lands  a  proposition  to 
extend  the  Homestead  Law  of  1862  to  the  forfeited 
and  confiscated  lands  of  Rebels.  It  was  a  very 
radical  proposition,  proposing  to  deal  with  these 
lands  as  public  lands,  and  parcel  them  out  into 
small  homesteads  among  the  poor  of  the  South, 
black  and  white.  The  subject  was  a  large  one,  in- 
volving many  important  questions,  and  I  devoted 
much  time  and  thought  to  the  preparation  of  a 
speech  in  support  of  the  measure.  In  the  month 
of  April  a  portion  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct 
of  the  War  visited  Fort  Pillow,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  testimony  respecting  the  rebel  atrocities  at 
that  place ;  and  this  testimony  and  that  taken  at 
Annapolis,  early  in  May,  respecting  the  treatment 
of  our  soldiers  in  the  prisons  at  Richmond  was 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE  WAR.        239 

published,  as  a  special  instalment  of  our  proceed- 
ings, for  popular  use,  accompanied  by  photographs 
of  a  number  of  the  prisoners  in  their  wasted  and 
disfigured  condition.  The  report  produced  a 
powerful  effect  on  the  public  mind,  and  caused 
unspeakable  trouble  and  vexation  to  the  enemy. 
I  assisted  in  the  examination  of  our  prisoners  at 
Annapolis,  and  never  before  had  been  so  touched 
by  any  spectacle  of  human  suffering.  They  were 
in  the  last  stages  of  life,  and  could  only  answer 
our  questions  in  a  whisper.  They  were  living 
skeletons,  and  it  seemed  utterly  incredible  that 
life  could  be  supported  in  such  wasted  and  attenu- 
ated shadows  of  themselves.  They  looked  at  us, 
in  attempting  to  tell  their  story,  with  an  expression 
of  beseeching  tenderness  and  submission  which  no 
words  could  describe.  Not  one  of  them  expressed 
any  regret  that  he  had  entered  into  the  service  of 
the  country,  and  each  declared  that  he  would  do 
so  again,  if  his  life  should  be  spared  and  the  op- 
portunity should  be  offered.  In  examining  one  of 
these  men  I  was  perfectly  unmanned  by  my  tears ; 
and  on  retiring  from  the  tent  to  give  them  vent  I 
encountered  Senator  Wade,  who  had  fled  from  the 
work,  and  was  sobbing  like  a  child.  It  was  an  al- 
together unprecedented  experience,  and  the  im- 
pression it  produced  followed  me  night  and  day  for 
weeks. 

The  conservative  policy  of  the  Administration 
found  a  new  and  careful  expression  in   Mr.   Lin- 


240  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIOXS. 


coin's  letter  to  A.  G.  Hodges,  of  the  4th  of  April. 
It  showed  great  progress  as  compared  with  previ- 
ous utterances,  but  his  declaration  that  "  I  claim 
not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess  plainly 
that  events  have  controlled  me,"  was  displeasing 
to  the  more  anti-slavery  Republicans.  They  insist- 
ed that  the  Administration  had  no  right  to  become 
the  foot-ball  of  events.  It  had  no  right,  they  said,  at 
such  a  time,  to  make  itself  a  negative  expression 
or  an  unknown  quantity  in  the  Algebra  which  was 
to  work  out  the  grand  problem.  It  had  no  right, 
they  insisted,  to  take  shelter  beneath  a  debauched 
and  sickly  public  sentiment,  and  plead  it  in  bar  of 
the  great  duty  imposed  upon  it  by  the  crisis.  It 
had  no  right,  certainly,  to  lag  behind  that  senti- 
ment, to  magnify  its  extent  and  potency,  and  thus 
to  become  its  virtual  ally,  instead  of  endeavoring 
to  control  it,  and  to  indoctrinate  the  country  with 
ideas  suited  to  the  emergency.  It  was  the  duty  of 
the  President,  like  John  Bright  and  the  English 
Liberals,  to  lead,  not  follow  public  opinion.  These 
criticisms  found  every  variety  of  utterance  through 
Congressional  speeches  and  the  press,  and  met 
with  a  cordial  response  from  the  people ;  and  they 
undoubtedly  played  their  part  in  preparing  the 
country  and  the  Administration  for  the  more  vigor- 
ous policy  which  was  to  follow. 

On  the  1 2th  of  May  the  House  passed  my  South- 
ern Homestead  Bill  by  the  strictly  party  vote  of 
seventy -five  to  sixty-four.  In  my  closing  speech  on 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        24! 

the  subject  I  was  frequently  interrupted  by  Wood 
of  New  York,  and  Mallory  of  Kentucky,  and  the 
debate  ran  into  very  sharp  personalities;  but  the  op- 
position of  these  members  only  tended  to  strengthen 
the  measure.  On  the  igih  I  was  drawn  into  an  ex- 
ceedingly angry  altercation  with  Mr.  Mallory,  who 
charged  me  with  forging  some  very  personal  re- 
marks about  himself,  and  interpolating  them  into 
the  "  Congressional  Globe  "  as  a  part  of  my  speech  of 
the  1 2th.  He  was  exceedingly  insolent  and  over- 
bearing in  his  manner,  growing  more  and  more  so 
as  he  proceeded,  and  strikingly  recalling  the  old 
days  of  slavery.  He  summoned  a  number  of  his 
friends  as  witnesses,  who  testified  that  they  did  not 
hear  me  use  the  language  in  question,  and  several 
of  them,  like  Kernan  of  New  York,  declared  that 
they  had  occupied  positions  very  near  me,  had  given 
particular  attention  to  my  words,  and  would  cer- 
tainly have  remembered  them  if  they  had  been 
uttered.  I  kept  cool,  but  asserted  very  positively 
that  I  did  use  the  exact  words  reported,  and  in 
proof  of  my  statement  I  appealed  to  a  number  of 
my  friends,  who  sustained  me  by  their  distinct  and 
positive  recollection.  Here  was  a  conflict  of  testi- 
mony in  which  every  witness  recollected  the  facts 
according  to  his  politics;  but  pending  the  proceed- 
ings I  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  the  notes  of  the 
"Globe"  reporter,  which  perfectly  vindicated  me 
from  Mr.  Mallory's  charges,  and  suddenly  put  his 
bluster  and  billingsgate  to  flight.  He  uncondition- 
16 


14*  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

ally  retracted  his  charges,  while  his  swift  witnesses 
were  sufficiently  rebuked  and  humiliated  by  this  un- 
expected catastrophe.  I  was  heartily  complimented 
on  my  triumph,  and  my  dialogue  with  Mr.  Mallory 
was  put  in  pamphlet  as  a  campaign  document  by 
his  opponents  and  liberally  scattered  over  his  dis- 
trict, where  it  did  much  service  in  defeating  his 
re-election  to  the  House. 

The  passage  of  the  Southern  Homestead  Bill, 
however,  could  only  prove  a  very  partial  measure 
without  an  enactment  reaching  the  fee  of  rebel  land 
owners,  and  I  confidently  anticipated  the  endorse- 
ment of  such  a  measure  by  the  Republican  Na- 
tional Convention,  which  was  to  meet  in  Baltimore, 
on  the  seventh  of  June.  I  was  much  gratified 
when  the  National  Union  League  approved  it,  in  its 
Convention  in  that  city  the  day  before ;  and  a  reso- 
lution embodying  it  was  also  reported  favorably 
by  the  sub-committee  on  resolutions  of  the  Na- 
tional Republican  Convention  the  next  day.  But 
the  General  Committee,  on  the  motion  of  McKee 
Dunn  of  Indiana,  always  an  incorrigible  conserva- 
tive, struck  it  out,  much  to  the  disappointment  of 
the  Republican  masses.  To  me  it  was  particularly 
vexatious,  as  the  measure  was  a  pet  one  of  mine, 
having  labored  for  it  with  much  zeal,  and  in  the 
confidence  that  the  National  Convention  would  ap- 
prove it.  Mr.  Dunn  was  a  Kentuckian  of  the 
Border  State  School,  and  although  a  friend  of  mine, 
and  an  upright  and  very  gentlemanly  man,  he  had 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        243 

a  genius  for  being  on  the  wrong  side  of  vital  ques- 
tions during  the  war.  Speaker  Colfax  used  to  say, 
laughingly,  that  in  determining  his  own  course  he 
first  made  it  a  point  to  find  out  where  McKee  Dunn 
stood  ;  and  then,  having  ascertained  Julian's  posi- 
tion, he  always  took  a  middle  ground,  feeling  per- 
fectly sure  he  was  right. 

But  to  me  the  nomination  of  Andrew  Johnson 
for  Vice  President  was  a  still  greater  disappoint- 
ment. I  knew  he  did  not  believe  in  the  principles 
embodied  in  the  platform.  I  had  become  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  him  while  we  were  fellow- 
members  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the 
War,  and  he  always  scouted  the  idea  that  slavery 
was  the  cause  of  our  trouble,  or  that  emancipation 
could  ever  be  tolerated  without  immediate  coloni- 
zation. In  my  early  acquaintance  with  him  I  had 
formed  a  different  opinion ;  but  he  was,  at  heart,  as 
decided  a  hater  of  the  negro  and  of  everything 
savoring  of  abolitionism,  as  the  rebels  from  whom  he 
had  separated.  His  nomination,  however,  like  that 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  seemed  to  have  been  preordained 
by  the  people,  while  the  intelligent,  sober  men,  in 
Congress  and  out  of  Congress,  who  lamented  the 
fact,  were  not  prepared  to  oppose  the  popular  will. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination  was  nearly  unanimous, 
only  the  State  of  Missouri  opposing  him ;  but  of  the 
more  earnest  and  thorough-going  Republicans  in 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  probably  not  one  in  ten 
really  favored  it.  It  was  not  only  very  distasteful 


244  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

to  a  large  majority  of  Congress  but  to  many  of  the 
most  prominent  men  of  the  party  throughout  the 
country.  During  the  month  of  June  the  feeling 
against  Mr.  Lincoln  became  more  and  more  bitter 
and  intense,  but  its  expression  never  found  its  way 
to  the  people. 

Notwithstanding  the  divisions  which  existed  in 
the  Republican  ranks,  party  discipline  was  vigor- 
ous and  absolute.  "Civil  Service  Reform"  was  in 
the  distant  future,  and  the  attempt  to  inaugurate  it 
would  have  been  counted  next  to  treasonable. 
Loyalty  to  Republicanism  was  not  only  accepted 
as  the  best  evidence  of  loyalty  to  the  country,  but 
of  fitness  for  civil  position.  After  my  nomination 
for  re-election  this  year,  Mr.  Holloway,  who  was 
still  holding  the  position  of  Commissioner  of  Pat- 
ents, and  one  of  the  editors  of  a  Republican  news- 
paper in  my  district,  refused  to  recognize  me  as 
the  party  candidate,  and  kept  the  name  of  my  de- 
feated competitor  standing  in  his  paper.  It  threat- 
ened discord  and  mischief,  and  I  went  to  the 
President  with  these  facts,  and  on  the  strength  of 
them  demanded  his  removal  from  office.  He  re- 
plied, "  If  I  remove  Mr.  Holloway  I  shall  have  a 
quarrel  with  Senator  Lane  on  my  hands."  I  re- 
plied that  Senator  Lane  would  certainly  not  quarrel 
with  him  for  turning  a  man  out  of  office  who  was 
fighting  the  Republican  party  and  the  friends  of 
the  Administration.  "  Your  nomination,"  said  he, 
"  is  as  binding  on  Republicans  as  mine,  and  you 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE  WAR.        24$ 

can  rest  assured  that  Mr.  Holloway  shall  support 
you,  openly  and  unconditionally,  or  lose  his  head." 
This  was  entirely  satisfactory,  but  after  waiting  a 
week  or  two  for  the  announcement  of  my  name  I  re- 
turned to  Mr.  Lincoln  with  the  information  that  Mr. 
Holloway  was  still  keeping  up  his  fight,  and  that  I 
had  come  to  ask  of  him  decisive  measures.  I  saw  in 
an  instant  that  the  President  now  meant  business. 
He  dispatched  a  messenger  at  once,  asking  Mr. 
Holloway  to  report  to  him  forthwith,  in  person, 
and  in  a  few  days  my  name  was  announced  in  his 
paper  as  the  Republican  candidate,  and  that  of  my 
competitor  withdrawn.  • 

Having  understood  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
changed  his  opinion  respecting  the  power  of  Con- 
gress to  confiscate  the  landed  estates  of  rebels,  I 
called  to  see  him  on  the  subject  on  the  2d  of  July, 
and  asked  him  if  I  might  say  to  the  people  that 
what  I  had  learned  on  this  subject  was  true,  assur- 
ing him  that  I  could  make  .a  far  better  fight  for  our 
cause  if  he  would  permit  me  to  do  so.  He  replied 
that  when  he  prepared  his  veto  of  our  law  on  the 
subject  two  years  before,  he  had  not  examined  the 
matter  thoroughly,  but  that'  on  further  reflection, 
and  on  reading  Solicitor  Whiting's  law  argument, 
he  had  changed  his  opinion,  and  thought  he  would 
now  sign  a  bill  striking  at  the  fee,  if  we  would 
send  it  to  him.  I  was  much  gratified  by  this  state- 
ment, which  was  of  service  to  the  cause  in  the 
canvass ;  but,  unfortunately,  constitutional  scruples 


.'.;•.  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS 

respecting  such  legislation  gained  ground,  and  al- 
though both  Houses  of  Congress  at  different  times 
endorsed  the  principle,  it  never  became  a  law,  ow- 
ing to  unavoidable  differences  between  the  Presi- 
dent and  Congress  on  the  question  of  reconstruc- 
tion. The  action  of  the  President  in  dealing  with 
rebel  land  owners  was  of  the  most  serious  charac- 
ter. It  paralyzed  one  of  the  most  potent  means 
of  putting  down  the  Rebellion,  prolonging  the  con- 
flict and  aggravating  its  cost,  and  at  the  same  time 
left  the  owners  of  large  estates  in  full  possession 
of  their  lands  at  the  end  of  the  struggle,  who 
naturally  excluded  from  the  ownership  of  the  soil 
the  freedmen  and  poor  whites  who  had  been  friendly 
to  the  Union ;  while  the  confiscation  of  life  estates 
as  a  war  measure  was  of  no  practical  advantage  to 
the  Government  or  disadvantage  to  the  enemy. 

The  refusal  of  the  President  to  sign  the  Recon- 
struction Act  which  passed  near  the  close  of 
the  session,  and  his  proclamation  and  message 
giving  his  reasons  therefor,  still  further  exasperated 
a  formidable  body  of  earnest  and  impatient  Repub- 
licans. A  scathing  criticism  of  the  President's 
position  by  Henry  Winter  Davis,  which  was  signed 
by  himself  and  Senator  Wade,  fitly  echoed  their 
feelings.  Mr.  Davis  was  a  man  of  genius.  Among 
the  famous  men  in  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress  he 
had  no  superior  as  a  writer,  debater  and  orator- 
He  was  a  brilliant  man,  whose  devotion  to  his 
country  in  this  crisis  was  a  passion,  while  his  hos- 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        247 

tility  to  the  President's  policy  was  as  sincere  as  it 
was  intense ;  but  the  passage  of  the  somewhat  in- 
congruous bill  vetoed  by  the  President,  would  prob- 
ably have  proved  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of 
the  more  radical  measures  which  afterward  pre- 
vailed. This  could  not  then  be  foreseen,  and  as 
the  measure  was  an  advanced  one,  the  feeling 
against  Mr.  Lincoln  waxed  stronger  and  stronger 
among  his  opposers.  They  had  so  completely  lost 
their  faith  in  him  that  when  Congress  adjourned 
they  seriously  feared  his  veto  of  the  bill  just 
enacted,  repealing  the  Fugitive  Slave  law ;  while 
the  independent  movement  in  favor  of  General  Fre- 
mont threatened  a  serious  division  in  the  Repub- 
lican ranks,  and  the  triumph  of  General  McClellan. 
"  These,"  as  Mr.  Lincoln  said  on  another  occa- 
sion, "  were  dark  and  dismal  days,"  and  they  were 
made  still  more  so  by  the  course  of  military  events. 
The  capture  of  Richmond,  which  General  Grant 
had  promised,  had  not  been  accomplished,  although 
he  had  been  furnished  with  all  the  troops  he  wanted. 
Our  Grand  Army  of  the  Potomac  made  advances 
in  that  direction,  but  with  great  slaughter  and 
no  actual  results;  while  the  Administration  was 
blamed  for  his  failures.  General  Grant  finally 
reached  the  position  occupied  by  McClellan  in 
1862,  but  with  terrific  losses,  and  Richmond  still 
in  possession  of  the  rebels.  His  delay  and  inaction 
at  this  point  created  great  popular  discontent  in  the 
North  ;  but  while  Lincoln  supplied  him  with  ample 


248  ITICAL  RECOLL1 

reinforcements,  and  he  now  had  an  army  twice  as 
large  as  that  of  General  Lee,  which  was  costing 
the  nation  over  a  million  dollars  per  day,  he  con- 
tinued idle  during  the  summer.  It  was  evident 
that  nothing  could  save  us  but  military  success ;  and 
most  fortunately  for  the  Republican  cause  it  came 
in  due  season,  rallied  and  reunited  its  supporters, 
and  thus  secured  their  triumph  at  the  polls. 

Near  the  close  of  the  canvass  while  on  a  visit  to 
Washington,  I  learned  how  it  happened  that  Mont- 
gomery Blair  had  finally  been  got  out  of  the  Cabi- 
net, and  General  Fremont  induced  to  leave  the 
track  as  the  candidate  of  the  Cleveland  Convention. 
The  radical  pressure  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  re- 
moval of  Blair  was  very  formidable,  and  the  emer- 
gency seemed  so  critical  that  it  finally  resulted  in 
a  compromise,  by  which  Fremont  agreed  to  retire 
from  the  race,  if  Blair  should  be  required  to  leave 
the  Cabinet.  This  was  carried  out,  and  thus,  at  last, 
the  President  was  obliged  to  make  terms  with  the 
"  Pathfinder,"  who  achieved  a  long-coveted  victory 
over  an  old  foe.  The  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
followed  by  a  remarkable  measure  of  party  union 
and  harmony,  and  the  tone  of  his  message  in  De- 
cember was  encouraging.  The  appointment  and 
confirmation  of  Mr.  Chase  as  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  met  the  most  cordial  approval  of 
Republicans  everywhere.  As  a  healing  measure, 
following  his  retirement  from  the  treasury  for  valid 
reasons,  it  was  most  timely. 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE  WAR.        249 

During  the  month  of  December,  the  Committee 
on  the  Conduct  of  the  War  visited  City  Point,  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  testimony  respecting  the  ex- 
plosion of  the  mine  at  Petersburg.  General  Grant 
spent  several  hours  with  the  Committee,  speaking 
very  freely  and  familiarly  of  the  faults  and  virtues 
of  our  various  commanders,  and  impressing  every 
one  by  his  strong  common-sense.  While  at  din- 
ner with  us  on  our  steamer,  he  drank  freely,  and  its 
effect  became  quite  manifest/  It  was  a  painful  sur- 
prise to  the  Committee,  and  was  spoken  of  with 
bated  breath ;  for  he  was  the  Lieutenant- General 
of  all  our  forces,  and  the  great  movements  which 
finally  strangled  the  Rebellion  were  then  in  prog- 
ress, and,  for  aught  we  knew,  might  possibly  be 
deflected  from  their  purpose  by  his  condition. 

In  January,  1865,  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct 
of  the  War  investigated  the  famous  Fort  Fisher 
expedition,  in  which  three  hundred  tons  of  pow- 
der were  to  be  exploded  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Fort 
as  a  means  of  demolishing  it,  or  paralyzing  the 
enemy.  The  testimony  of  General  Butler  in  ex- 
planation and  defense  of  the  enterprise  was  inter- 
esting and  spicy,  and  he  was  subsequently  contra- 
dicted by  General  Grant  on  material  points.  On 
the  last  day  of  this  month  one  of  the  grandest 
events  of  the  century  was  witnessed  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  in  the  final  passage  of  the  Con- 
stitutional Amendment  forever  prohibiting  slavery. 
Numerous  propositions  on  the  subject  had  been 


250  POLITICAL  XECOLLJ 

submitted,  but  the  honor  of  drafting  the  one 
adopted  belongs  to  Lyman  Trumbull,  who  had  in- 
troduced it  early  in  the  first  session  of  this  Con- 
gress. It  passed  the  Senate  on  the  8th  of  April, 
1864,  only  six  members  voting  against  it,  namely, 
Davis,  Hendricks,  McDougall,  Powell,  Riddle  and 
Saulsbury,  but  failed  in  the  House  on  the  I5th  of 
June  following.  It  now  came  ,up  on  the  motion 
of  Mr.  Ashley  to  reconsider  this  vote.  Congress 
had  abolished  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  prohibited  it  in  all  the  Territories.  It  had  re- 
pealed the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  and  declared  free  all 
negro  soldiers  in  the  Union  armies  and  their  fami- 
lies ;  and  the  President  had  played  his  grand  part 
in  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  But  the 
question  now  to  be  decided  completely  overshad- 
owed all  others.  The  debate  on  the  subject  had 
been  protracted  and  very  spirited,  the  opposition 
being  led  by  Pendleton,  Fernando  Wood,  Voor- 
hies,  Mallory  and  Eldridge,  who  all  denied  that 
the  power  to  amend  the  Constitution  conferred  the 
right  to  abolish  slavery,  as  Garret  Davis  and 
Saulsbury  had  done  in  the  Senate.  The  time  for 
the  momentous  vote  had  now  come,  and  no  lan- 
guage could  describe  the  solemnity  and  impress- 
iveness  of  the  spectacle  pending  the  roll-call.  The 
success  of  the  measure  had  been  considered  very 
doubtful,  and  depended  upon  certain  negotiations, 
the  result  of  which  was  not  fully  assured,  and  the 
particulars  of  which  never  reached  the  public. 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        251 

The  anxiety  and  suspense  during  the  balloting 
produced  a  deathly  stillness,  but  when  it  became 
certainly  known  that  the  measure  had  prevailed 
the  cheering  in  the  densely-packed  hall  and  galler- 
ies surpassed  all  precedent  and  beggared  all  de- 
scription. Members  joined  in  the  general  shouting, 
which  was  kept  up  for  several  minutes,  many  em- 
bracing each  other,  and  others  completely  surren- 
dering themselves  to  their  tears  of  joy.  It  seemed 
to  me  I  had  been  born  into  a  new  life,  and  that  the 
world  was  overflowing  with  beauty  and  joy,  while 
I  was  inexpressibly  thankful  for  the  privilege  of 
recording  my  name  on  so  glorious  a  page  of  the 
nation's  history,  and  in  testimony  of  an  event  so 
long  only  dreamed  of  as  possible  in  the  distant 
future.  The  champions  of  negro  emancipation 
had  merely  hoped  to  speed  their  grand  cause  a 
little  by  their  faithful  labors,  and  hand  over  to 
coming  generations  the  glory  of  crowning  it  with 
success  ;  but  they  now  saw  it  triumphant,  and  they 
had  abundant  and  unbounded  cause  to  rejoice.  It 
has  been  aptly  said  that  the  greatest  advantage  of 
a  long  life  is  the  opportunity  it  gives  of  seeing 
moral  experiments  worked  out,  of  being  present  at 
the  fructification  of  social  causes,  and  of  thus 
gaining  a  kind  of  wisdom  which  in  ordinary  cases 
seems  reserved  for  a  future  life;  but  that  an  equiva- 
lent for  this  advantage  is  possessed  by  such  as  live 
in  those  critical  periods  of  society  when  retribution 
is  hastened,  or  displayed  in  clear  connection  with 


2$2  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  origin  of  events.  It  strengthens  faith  to  ob- 
serve the  sure  operation  of  moral  causes  in  ripen- 
ing into  great  and  beneficent  results.  To  be  per- 
mitted to  witness  the  final  success  of  the  grandest 
movement  of  ancient  or  modern  times  was  a 
blessed  opportunity.  To  have  labored  for  it  in 
the  goodly  fellowship  of  its  confessors  and  martyrs 
was  cause  for  devout  thanksgiving  and  joy.  To  be 
accredited  to  share  in  the  great  historic  act  of  its 
formal  consummation  was  a  priceless  privilege.  A 
few  days  after  the  ratification  of  this  Amendment, 
on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Sumner,  Dr.  Rock,  a  colored 
lawyer  of  Boston,  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  which  had 
pronounced  the  Dred  Scott  decision  only  a  few 
years  before ;  and  this  was  followed  a  few  days 
later  by  a  sermon  in  the  hall  of  the  House  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Garnett,  being  the  first  ever  preached  in  the 
Capitol  by  a  colored  man.  Evidently,  the  negro 
was  coming  to  the  front. 

In  the  latter  part  of  March  I  visited  New  York, 
where  I  witnessed  the  immense  throngs  of  shouting 
people  on  Wall  Street,  called  together  by  the  news 
of  the  fall  of  Richmond.  Broadway,  robed  in  its 
innumerable  banners,  was  one  of  the  finest  sights  I 
had  ever  beheld.  On  the  tenth  of  April  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Conduct  of  the  War  left  Washing- 
ton for  South  Carolina,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
further  testimony,  and  intending  to  be  present  at 
the  great  anniversary  of  the  thirteenth  at  Charles- 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE  WAR.        253 

ton.  We  reached  Fortress  Monroe  the  next  even- 
ing, where  we  learned  that  the  "  Alabama,"  which 
the  Navy  Department  had  furnished  us,  would 
be  detained  twenty-four  hours  to  coal,  by  reason 
of  which  we  proceeded  directly  to  Richmond  on 
the  "  Baltimore."  At  City  Point,  Admiral  Porter 
furnished  us  with  a  pilot,  as  there  was  some 
danger  of  torpedoes  up  the  James  River.  Our 
steamer  reached  the  city  about  bedtime,  but  we 
remained  on  board  till  morning,  lulled  into  a 
sweet  sleep  by  the  music  of  the  guitar  and  the 
singing  of  the  negroes  below.  At  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning  our  party  went  out  sight-seeing, 
some  in  carriages,  but  most  of  us  on  horseback, 
with  an  orderly  for  each  to  show  him  the  way. 
The  first  notable  place  we  visited  was  General 
Weitzel's  headquarters,  just  vacated  by  Jefferson 
Davis.  The  building  was  a  spacious  three-story 
residence,  with  a  large  double  parlor,  a  ladies'  par- 
lor, and  a  small  secluded  library  attached,  in  which 
all  sorts  of  treason  were  said  to  have  been  hatched. 
We  next  visited  the  capitol,  an  ancient-looking 
edifice,  which  would  bear  no  comparison  with  our 
modern  State  Capitols  in  size  or  style  of  architect- 
ure. The  library  made  a  respectable  appearance, 
but  I  think  it  contained  few  modern  publications, 
especially  of  our  own  authors.  I  noticed,  how- 
ever, a  liberal  supply  of  theological  works  of  the 
most  approved  orthodoxy.  The  view  of  the  city 
from  the  top  of  the  building  was  admirable.  We 


254  POLITICAL  KECOLLECTJ 

could  sec  Libby  Prison,  Castle  Thunder  and  Bell 
Isle,  the  former  of  which  we  afterward  visited. 
After  seeing  the  rebel  fortifications  we  were  glad 
to  get  back  to  our  steamer.  Before  starting  the 
next  morning  we  saw  the  "  Richmond  Whig,"  con- 
taining an  order  signed  by  General  Weitzel,  invit- 
ing Hunter,  McMullen  and  other  noted  rebel 
leaders,  including  members  of  the  rebel  legislature, 
to  meet  in  Richmond  on  the  twenty- fifth  to  confer 
with  our  authorities  on  the  restoration  of  peace, 
transportation  and  safe  conduct  being  ordered  for 
the  purpose.  We  were  all  thunderstruck,  and 
fully  sympathized  with  the  hot  indignation  and 
wrathful  words  of  the  chairman  of  our  committee. 
We  soon  afterward  learned  that  the  order  had  been 
directed  by  the  President,  and  while  we  were 
thoroughly  disgusted  by  this  display  of  misguided 
magnanimity  we  saw  rebel  officers  strutting  around 
the  streets  in  full  uniform,  looking  as  independent 
as  if  they  had  been  the  masters  of  the  city.  We 
left  on  the  afternoon  of  the  twelfth,  and  were  inter- 
ested in  seeing  Drury's  Landing,  Dutch-Gap 
Canal,  Malvern  Hills  and  other  points  of  historic 
interest.  Before  reaching  Fortress  Monroe  the 
next  day,  Senators  Wade  and  Chandler  changed 
their  minds  respecting  our  journey  to  Charleston, 
which  was  abandoned,  and  after  spending  a  few 
hours  very  pleasantly  at  that  place  and  Point 
Lookout,  we  reached  Washington  on  the  evening 
of  the  fourteenth. 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        255 

Soon  after  retiring  I  was  roused  from  a  deep  sleep 
by  loud  raps  at  my  door.  W.  L.  Woods,  clerk  of 
my  committee,  entered  in  the  greatest  excitement, 
and  told  me  that  Lincoln  had  just  been  assassinated, 
and  Seward  and  son  probably,  and  that  rebel  assas- 
sins were  about  to  take  the  town.  Supposing  all 
this  to  be  true  I  grew  suddenly  cold,  heart-sick  and 
almost  helpless.  It  was  a  repetition  of  my  ex- 
perience when  the  exaggerated  stories  about  the 
Bull  Run  disaster  first  reached  me  in  the  summer 
of  1 86 1.  I  soon  rallied,  however,  and  joined  the 
throng  on  the  street.  The  city  was  at  once  in  a  tem- 
pest of  excitement,  consternation  and  rage.  About 
seven  and  a  half  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  church 
bells  tolled  the  President's  death.  The  weather  was 
as  gloomy  as  the  mood  of  the  people,  while  all  sorts 
of  rumors  filled  the  air  as  to  the  particulars  of  the 
assassination  and  the  fate  of  Booth.  Johnson  was 
inaugurated  at  eleven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  1 5th,  and  was  at  once  surrounded  by  radical 
and  conservative  politicians,  who  were  alike  anxious 
about  the  situation.  I  spent  most  of  the  afternoon 
in  a  political  caucus,  held  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering the  necessity  for  a  new  Cabinet  and  a  line 
of  policy  less  conciliatory  than  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln; 
and  while  everybody  was  shocked  at  his  murder, 
the  feeling  was  nearly  universal  that  the  accession 
of  Johnson  to  the  Presidency  would  prove  a  god- 
send to  the  country.  Aside  from  Mr.  Lincoln's 
known  policy  of  tenderness  to  the  Rebels,  which 


256  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

now  so  jarred  upon  the  feelings  of  the  hour,  his  well- 
known  views  on  the  subject  of  reconstruction  were 
as  distasteful  as  possible  to  radical  Republicans. 
In  his  last  public  utterance,  only  three  days  before 
his  death,  he  had  declared  his  adherence  to  the  plan 
of  reconstruction  announced  by  him  in  December, 
1863,  which  in  the  following  year  so  stirred  the  irt 
of  Wade  and  Winter  Davis  as  an  attempt  of  the 
Executive  to  usurp  the  powers  of  Congress.  Ac- 
cording to  this  plan  the  work  of  reconstruction  in 
the  rebel  States  was  to  be  inaugurated  and  carried 
on  by  those  only  who  were  qualified  to  vote  under 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  these  States  as  they  ex- 
isted prior  to  the  Rebellion.  Of  course  the  negroes 
of  the  South  could  have  no  voice  in  framing  the  in- 
stitutions under  which  they  were  to  live,  and  the 
question  of  negro  suffrage  would  thus  have  been 
settled  by  the  President,  if  he  had  lived  and  been 
able  to  maintain  this  policy,  while  no  doubt  was 
felt  that  this  calamity  had  now  been  averted  and  the 
way  opened  for  the  radical  policy  which  afterward 
involved  the  impeachment  of  Johnson,  but  finally 
prevailed.  It  was  forgotten  in  the  fever  and  turbu- 
lence of  the  moment,  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was 
never  an  obstinate  man,  and  who  in  the  matter  of 
his  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  had  surrendered 
his  own  judgment  under  the  pressure  of  public 
opinion,  would  not  have  been  likely  to  wrestle  with 
Congress  and  the  country  in  a  mad  struggle  for  his 
own  way. 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE   WAR.        257 

On  the  following  day,  in  pursuance  of  a  previous 
engagement,  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the 
War  met  the  President  at  his  quarters  in  the  Treas- 
ury Department.  He  received  us  with  decided 
cordiality,  and  Mr.  Wade  said  to  him  :  "Johnson, 
we  have  faith  in  you.  By  the  gods,  there  will  be 
no  trouble  now  in  running  the  government!"  The 
President  thanked  him,  and  went  on  to  define  his 
well-remembered  policy  at  that  time.  "  I  hold," 
said  he,  "that  robbery  is  a  crime;  rape  is  a  crime; 
murder  is  a  crime ;  treason  is  a  crime,  and  crime  must 
be  punished.  Treason  must  be  made  infamous,  and 
traitors  must  be  impoverished."  We  were  all 
cheered  and  encouraged  by  this  brave  talk,  and 
while  we  were  rejoiced  that  the  leading  conserva- 
tives of  the  country  were  not  in  Washington,  we 
felt  that  the  presence  and  influence  of  the  commit- 
tee, of  which  Johnson  had  been  a  member,  would 
aid  the  Administration  in  getting  on  the  right  track. 
We  met  him  again  the  next  day  and  found  the 
symptoms  of  a  vigorous  policy  still  favorable,  and 
although  I  had  some  misgivings,  the  general  feel- 
ing was  one  of  unbounded  confidence  in  his  sin- 
cerity and  firmness,  and  that  he  would  act  upon 
the  advice  of  General  Butler  by  inaugurating  a 
policy  of  his  own,  instead  of  administering  on  the 
political  estate  of  his  predecessor. 

In  the  meantime  the  prevailing  excitement  was 
greatly  aggravated  by  the  news  of  the  capitulation 
between  General  Sherman  and  General  Johnson 
17 


258  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  the  1 6th  of  April.  Its  practical  surrender  of  all 
the  fruits  of  the  national  triumph  so  soon  after  the 
murder  of  the  President,  produced  an  effect  on  the 
public  mind  which  can  not  be  described.  General 
Sherman  had  heard  of  the  assassination  when  tin- 
capitulation  was  made,  and  could  not  have  been 
ignorant  of  the  feeling  it  had  aroused.  On  the  face 
of  the  proceeding  his  action  seemed  a  wanton  be- 
trayal of  the  country  to  its  enemies  ;  but  when  this 
betrayal  followed  so  swiftly  the  frightful  tragedy 
which  was  then  believed  to  have  been  instigated  by 
the  Confederate  authorities,  the  patience  of  the  peo- 
ple became  perfectly  exhausted.  For  the  time  being, 
all  the  glory  of  his  great  achievements  in  the  war 
seemed  to  be  forgotten  in  the  anathemas  which 
were  showered  upon  him  from  every  quarter  of  the 
land  ;  but  the  prompt  repudiation  of  his  stipulations 
by  the  Administration  soon  assuaged  the  popular 
discontent,  while  it  provoked  an  estrangement  be- 
tween Secretary  Stanton  and  himself  which  was 
never  healed. 

The  outpouring  of  the  people  at  Mr.  Lincoln's 
funeral  was  wholly  unprecedented,  and  every  pos- 
sible arrangement  was  made  by  which  they  could 
manifest  their  grief  for  their  murdered  President ; 
but  their  solicitude  for  the  state  of  the  country  was 
too  profound  to  be  intermitted.  What  policy  was 
now  to  be  pursued?  Mr.  Lincoln's  latest  utterances 
had  been  far  from  assuring  or  satisfactory.  The 
question  of  reconstruction  had  found  no  logical 


INCIDENTS  AND  END  OF  THE  WAR. 

solution,  and  all  was  confusion  respecting  it.  The 
question  of  negro  suffrage  was  slowly  coming  to 
the  front,  and  could  not  be  much  longer  evaded. 
The  adequate  punishment  of  the  rebel  leaders  was 
the  demand  of  the  hour.  What  would  the  new 
President  do  ?  He  had  suddenly  become  the  cen- 
tral figure  of  American  politics,  and  both  radicals 
and  conservatives  were  as  curious  to  know  what 
line  of  policy  he  would  follow  as  they  were  anx- 
ious to  point  his  way.  His  demeanor,  at  first, 
seemed  modest  and  commendable,  but  his  egotism 
soon  began  to  assert  itself,  while  his  passion  for 
stump-speaking  was  pampered  by  the  delegations 
which  began  to  pour  into  the  city  from  various 
States  and  flatter  him  by  formal  addresses,  to  which 
he  replied  at  length.  This  business  was  kept  up 
till  the  people  became  weary  of  the  din  and  clatter 
of  words,  and  impatient  for  action. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

RECONSTRUCTION   AND   SUFFRAGE — THE    LAND   QUES- 
TION. 

Visit   of     Indianians  to   the  President — Gov.  Morton   and  : 

struction — Report  of  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War — 
Discussion  of  negro  suffrage  and  incidents — Personal  matters 
— Suffrage  in  the  District  of  Columbia — The  Fourteenth  Con- 
stitutional Amendment — Breach  between  the  President  and 
Congress — Hlaine  and  Conkling — Land  bounties  and  the 
Homestead  Law. 

ON  the  twenty-first  of  April  I  joined  a  large 
crowd  of  Indianians  in  one  of  the  calls  on  the 
President  referred  to  at  the  close  of  the  last  chapter. 
Gov.  Morton  headed  the  movement,  which  I  now 
found  had  a  decidedly  political  significance.  He 
read  a  lengthy  and  .labored  address  on  "  The  Whole 
Duty  of  Man  "  respjcting  the  question  of  Recon- 
struction. He  told  the  President  that  a  State  could 
"  neither  secede  nor  by  any  possible  means  be  taken 
out  of  the  Union  ";  and  he  supported  and  illustrated 
this  proposition  by  some  very  remarkable  state- 
ments. He  elaborated  the  proposition  that  the  loyal 
people  of  a  State  have  the  right  to  govern  it ;  but 
he  did  not  explain  what  would  become  of  the  State 
if  the  people  were  all  disloyal,  or  the  loyal  so  few  as 
(260) 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE.          261 

to  be  utterly  helpless.  The  lawful  governments  of 
the  South  were  overthrown  by  treason;  and  the 
Governor  declared  there  was  "  no  power  in  the 
Federal  Government  to  punish  the  people  of  a  State 
collectively,  by  reducing  it  to  a  territorial  condi- 
tion, since  the  crime  of  treason  is  individual,  and 
can  only  be  treated  individually."  According 
to  this  doctrine  a  rebellious  State  becomes  inde- 
pendent. *  If  the  people  could  rightfully  be  over- 
powered by  the  national  authority,  that  very  fact 
would  at  once  re-clothe  them  in  all  their  rights, 
just  as  if  they  had  never  rebelled.  In  framing 
their  new  governments  Congress  would  have  no 
right  to  prescribe  any  conditions,  or  to  govern 
them  in  any  way  pending  the  work  of  State  recon- 
struction, since  this  would  be  to  recognize  the 
States  as  Territories,  and  violate  the  principle  of 
State  rights.  The  Governor's  theory  of  recon- 
struction, in  fact,  made  our  war  for  the  Union 
flagrantly  unconstitutional.  The  crime  of  treason 
being  "  individual,"  and  only  to  "  be  treated  indi- 
vidually," we  had  no  right  to  hold  prisoners  of 
war,  seize  property,  and  capture  and  confiscate 
vessels,  without  a  regular  indictment  and  trial ; 
and  this  being  so,  every  Rebel  in  arms  was  in  the 
full  legal  possession  of  his  political  rights,  and  no 
power  could  prevent  him  from  exercising  them  ex- 
cept through  judicial  conviction  of  treason  in  the 
district  in  which  the  overt  act  was  committed. 
Singularly  enough,  he  seemed  entirely  unaware  of 


262  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  well-settled  principle  which  made  our  war  for 
the  Union  a  territorial  conflict,  like  that  of  a  war 
with  Mexico  or  England ;  that  the  Rebels,  while 
still  liable  to  be  hung  or  otherwise  dealt  with  for 
treason,  had  taken  upon  themselves  the  further 
character  of  public  enemies ;  and  that  being  now 
conquered  they  were  conquered  enemies,  having 
simply  the  rights  of  a  conquered  people.  The 
Governor  further  informed  the  President  that  if  the 
revolted  districts  should  be  dealt  with  as  mere 
Territories,  or  conquered  provinces,  the  nation 
would  be  obliged  to  pay  the  debts  contracted  by 
them  prior  to  the  war.  These  remarkable  utter- 
ances, which  he  repudiated  in  less  than  a  year 
afterward,  were  emphatically  endorsed  by  the  Pres- 
ident, who  entered  upon  the  same  theme  at  a  dis- 
mal length,  freely  indulging  in  his  habit  of  bad 
English  and  incoherence  of  thought.  I  was  dis- 
gusted, and  sorry  that  the  confidence  of  so  many 
of  my  radical  friends  had  been  entirely  misplaced. 
During  the  latter  part  of  April  and  early  part  of 
May  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War 
completed  its  final  report,  making  eight  considera- 
ble volumes,  and  containing  valuable  material  for 
any  trustworthy  history  6f  the  great  conflict.  Its 
opinions  were  sometimes  colored  by  the  passions 
of  the  hour,  and  this  was  especially  true  in  the  case 
of  General  McClellan;  but  subsequent  events  have 
justified  its  conclusions  generally  as  to  nearly  every 
officer  and  occurrence  investigated,  while  its  use- 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE.          263 

fulness  in  exposing  military  blunders  and  incompe- 
tence, and  in  finally  inaugurating  the  vigorous  war 
policy  which  saved  the  country,  will  scarcely  be 
questioned  by  any  man  sufficiently  well-informed 
and  fair-minded  to  give  an  opinion. 

On  the  1 2th  of  May,  a  caucus  of  Republicans 
was  held  at  the  National  Hotel  to  consider  the 
necessity  of  taking  decisive  measures  for  saving 
the  new  Administration  from  the  conservative  con- 
trol which  then  threatened  it.  Senators  Wade  and 
Sumner  both  insisted  that  the  President  was  in  no 
danger,  and  declared,  furthermore,  that  he  was  in 
favor  of  negro  suffrage;  and  no  action  was  taken 
because  of  the  general  confidence  in  him  which  I 
was  surprised  to  find  still  prevailed.  In  the  mean- 
time, pending  the  general  drift  of  events,  the  suf- 
frage question  was  constantly  gaining  in  signifi- 
cance, and  demanding  a  settlement.  It  was  neither 
morally  nor  logically  possible  to  escape  it ;  and  on 
my  return  to  my  constituents  I  prepared  for  a  thor- 
ough canvass  of  my  district.  The  Republicans 
were  everywhere  divided  on  the  question,  while  the 
current  of  opinion  was  strongly  against  the  intro- 
duction of  the  issue  as  premature.  The  politicians 
all  opposed  it  on  the  plea  that  it  would  divide 
the  Republicans  and  restore  the  Democrats  to 
power,  and  that  we  must  wait  for  the  growth 
of  a  public  opinion  that  would  justify  its  agi- 
tation. Governor  Morton  opposed  the  policy 
with  inexpressible  bitterness,  declaring,  with  an 


POLITICAL  KECOL1  i 


oath,  that  "negro  suffrage  mu>t  be  put  down," 
while  every  possible  effort  was  made  to  array  th<- 
sold'  ust  it.  His  hostility  to  the  suffrage 

wing  of  his  party  seemed  to  be  quite  as  Relentless 
as  to  the  Rebels,  while  the  great  body  of  the  Repub- 
licans of  the  district  deferred  strongly  to  his  vie\\s. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  canvass  I  even  found  a 
considerable  portion  of  my  old  anti-slavery  friends 
unprepared  to  follow  me;  but  feeling  perfectly  sure 
I  was  right,  and  that  I  could  revolutionize  the 
general  opinion,  I  entered  upon  the  work,  and 
prosecuted  it  with  all  my  might  for  nearly  four 
months.  My  task  was  an  arduous  one,  but  1 
found  the  people  steadily  yielding  up  their  preju- 
dices, and  ready  to  lay  hold  of  the  truth  when 
fairly  and  dispassionately  presented,  while  the  sol- 
diers were  among  the  first  to  accept  my  teachings. 
The  tide  was  at  length  so  evidently  turning  in  my 
favor  that  on  the  28th  of  September  Governor 
Morton  was  induced  to  make  his  elaborate  speech 
at  Richmond,  denouncing  the  whole  theory  of 
Republican  reconstruction  as  subsequently  carried 
out,  and  opposing  the  policy  of  negro  suffrage  by 
arguments  which  he  seemed  to  regard  as  over- 
whelming. He  made  a  dismal  picture  of  the  igno- 
rance and  degradation  of  the  plantation  negroes  of 
the  South,  and  scouted  the  policy  of  arming  them 
with  political  power.  Hut  their  fitness  for  the  ballot 
was  a  subordinate  question.  A  great  national 
emergency  pleaded  for  their  right  to  it  on  other 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE.         265 

and  far  more  imperative  grounds.  The  question 
involved  the  welfare  of  both  races,  and  the  issues 
of  the  war.  It  involved  not  merely  the  fate  of  the 
negro,  but  the  safety  of  society.  It  was,  moreover, 
a  question  of  national  honor  and  gratitude,  from 
which  no  escape  was  morally  possible.  To  leave 
the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  the  ex-rebels,  and  with- 
hold it  from  these  helpless  millions, would  be  to  turn 
them  over  to  the  unhindered  tyranny  and  misrule 
of  their  enemies,  who  were  then  smarting  under  the 
humiliation  of  their  failure,  and  making  the  con- 
dition of  the  freedmen  more  intolerable  than  slavery 
itself,  through  local  laws  and  police  regulations. 

The  Governor  referred  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  Indiana,  denying  the  ballot  to  her  intelli- 
gent negroes,  and  subjecting  colored  men  to  prose- 
cution and  fine  for  coming  into  the  State ;  and 
asked  with  what  face  her  people  could  insist  upon 
conferring  the  suffrage  upon  the  negroes  of  the 
Southern  States  ?  But  this  was  an  evasion  of  the 
question.  The  people  of  Indiana  had  no  right  to 
take  advantage  of  their  own  wrong,  or  to  sacrifice 
the  welfare  of  four  million  blacks  on  the  altar  of 
Northern  consistency.  He  should  have  preached 
the  duty  of  practical  repentance  in  Indiana,  instead 
of  making  the  sins  of  her  people  an  excuse  for  a 
far  greater  inhumanity  to  the  negroes  of  the  South. 

He  urged  that  the  policy  of  negro  suffrage  would 
give  the  lie  to  all  the  arguments  that  had  ever 
been  employed  against  slavery  as  degrading  and 


266  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

brutalizing  to  its  victims.  He  said  it  was  "  to  pay 
the  highest  compliment  to  the  institution  of  slav- 
ery," and  "  stultify  ourselves."  But  this  was  be- 
littling a  great  national  question,  by  the  side  of 
which  all  considerations  of  party  consistency  were 
utterly  trivial  and  contemptible.  The  ballot  for 
the  negro  was  a  logical  necessity,  and  it  was  a 
matter  of  the  least  possible  consequence  whether 
the  granting  of  it  would  "  stultify  ourselves  "  or 
not. 

He  insisted  that  the  true  policy  was  to  give  the 
Southern  negroes  a  probation  of  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  to  prepare  for  the  ballot.  He  would  give 
them  "  time  to  acquire  a  little  property ;  time  to 
get  a  little  education ;  time  to  learn  something 
about  the  simplest  forms  of  business,  and  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  the  exercise  of  political  power." 
But  he  did  not  explain  how  all  this  was  to  be  done, 
under  the  circumstances  of  their  condition.  He 
declared  that  not  one  of  them  in  five  hundred 
could  read,  or  was  worth  five  dollars  in  property 
of  any  kind,  owning  nothing  but  their  bodies,  and 
living  on  the  plantations  of  white  men  upon  whom 
they  were  dependent  for  employment  and  subsist- 
ence. How  could  such  men  acquire  "  education," 
and  "  property,"  under  the  absolute  sway  of  a  peo- 
ple who  regarded  them  with  loathing  and  contempt  ? 
Who  would  grant  them  this  "  probation,"  and  help 
them  turn  it  to  good  account  ?  Was  some  miracle 
to  be  wrought  through  which  the  slave-masters 


RECONSTR UCTION  AND  SUFFRA  GE.         267 

were  to  be  transfigured  into  negro  apostles  and 
devotees  ?  Besides,  under  Governor  Morton's 
theory  of  reconstruction  and  State  rights,  neither 
Congress  nor  the  people  of  the  loyal  States  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  question.  It  was  no  more 
their  concern  in  South  Carolina  than  in  Massa- 
chusetts. His  suggestion  of  a  probation  for  South- 
ern negroes  was  therefore  an  impertinence.  If  not, 
why  did  he  not  recommend  a  "  probation  "  for  the 
hordes  of  "white  trash"  that  were  as  unfit  for 
political  power  as  the  negroes  ? 

He  was  very  earnest  and  eloquent  in  his  condem- 
nation of  Mr.  Sumner  for  proposing  to  give  the  bal- 
lot to  the  negroes  and  disfranchise  the  white  Rebels, 
but  his  moral  vision  failed  to  discern  anything  amiss 
in  his  own  ghastly  policy  of  arming  the  white  Rebels 
with  the  ballot  and  denying  it  to  the  loyal  negroes. 

He  argued  that  the  right  to  vote  carried  with  it 
the  right  to  hold  office,  and  that  negro  suffrage 
would  lead  to  the  election  of  negro  Governors,  negro 
judges,  negro  members  of  Congress,  a  negro 
balance  of  power  in  our  politics,  and  a  war  of  races. 
He  seemed  to  have  no  faith  at  all  in  the  beneficent 
measures  designed  to  guard  the  black  race  from  out- 
rage and  wrong,  while  full  of  apprehension  that  the 
heavens  would  fall  if  such  measures  were  adopted. 

This  speech  was  published  in  a  large  pamphlet 
edition  and  extensively  scattered  throughout  the 
country ;  but  it  proved  a  help  rather  than  a  hin- 
drance to  my  enterprise.  I  replied  to  it  in  several 


268  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

incisive  newspaper  articles, and  made  its  arguments 
a  text  for  a  still  more  thorough  discussion  of  the 
issue  on  the  stump,  and  at  the  close  of  my  canvass 
the  Republicans  of  the  district  were  as  nearly  a  unit 
in. my  favor  as  a  party  can  be  made  respecting  any 
controverted  doctrine. 

I  now  extended  my  labors  briefly  outside  of  my 
district,  and  by  special  invitation  from  citizens  of 
Indianapolis  and  members  of  the  Legislature,  then 
in  session,  I  spoke  in  that  city  on  the  I7th  of  No- 
vember. Every  possible  effort  was  made  by  the 
Johnsonized  Republicans  to  prevent  me  from  hav- 
ing an  audience,  but  they  failed  utterly ;  and  I  ana- 
lyzed the  positions  of  Governor  Morton  in  a  speech 
of  two  hours,  which  was  reported  for  the"Cincinnati 
Gazette"  and  subsequently  published  in  a  large  pam- 
phlet edition.  The  political  rage  and  exasperation 
which  now  prevailed  in  the  ranks  of  the  Anti-Suf- 
frage faction  can  be  more  readily  imagined  than  de- 
scribed. Their  organ,  the  "  Indianapolis  Journal," 
poured  out  upon  me  an  incredible  deliverance  of 
vituperation  and  venom  for  scattering  my  heresies 
outside  of  my  Congressional  district,  declaring  that 
I  had  "  the  temper  of  a  hedgehog,  the  adhesiveness 
of  a  barnacle,  the  vanity  of  a  peacock,  the  vindic- 
tiveness  of  a  Corsican,  the  hypocrisy  of  Aminadab 
Sleek  and  the  duplicity  of  the  devil."  I  rather  en- 
joyed these  paroxysms  of  malignity,  which  broke 
out  all  over  the  State  among  the  Governor's  con- 
servative satellites,  since  my  only  offense  was  fulel- 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE.         269 

ity  to  my  political  opinions,  the  soundness  of  which 
I  was  finding  fully  justified  by  events  ;  for  the  friends 
of  the  Governor,  in  a  few  short  months,  gathered 
together  and  cremated  all  the  copies  of  his  famous 
speech  which  could  be  found.  But  the  disowned 
document  was  printed  as  a  campaign  tract  by  the 
Democrats  for  a  dozen  successive  years  afterward, 
and  circulated  largely  in  several  of  the  Northern 
States,  while  the  Governor  himself,  by  a  sudden 
and  splendid  somersault,  became  the  champion  and 
exemplar  of  the  very  heresies  which  had  so  furi- 
ously kindled  his  ire  against  me.  These  perform- 
ances are  sufficiently  remarkable  to  deserve  notice. 
They  did  much  to  make  Indiana  politics  spicy  and 
picturesque,  and  showed  how  earnestly  the  radical 
and  conservative  wings  of  the  Republican  party 
could  wage  war  against  the  common  enemy  with- 
out in  the  least  impairing  their  ability  or  disposition 
to  fight  each  other. 

I  have  referred  to  these  facts  because  they  form 
a  necessary  part  of  the  story  I  am  telling.  The 
question  of  Negro  Suffrage  was  a  very  grave  one, 
and  the  circumstances  connected  with  its  introduc- 
tion as  a  political  issue  are  worthy  of  record ;  while 
Governor  Morton  was  a  sort  of  phenomenal  figure 
in  American  politics  during  the  war  period,  and 
played  a  very  remarkable  part  in  the  affairs  of  In- 
diana. It  has  been  aptly  said  of  him,  and  not  by 
an  enemy,  that  his  inconsistencies,  in  a  study  of  his 
character,  form  the  most  charming  part  of  it,  and 


270  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

th.it  no  man  in  public  life  ever  brought  such  magnif- 
icent resources  to  the  support  of  both  sides  of  a 
question.  His  force  of  will  was  as  matchless  as  his 
ambition  for  power  was  boundless  and  unappeasa- 
ble. He  was  made  for  revolutionary  times,  and 
his  singular  energy  of  character  was  pre-eminently 
destructive ;  but  it  can  not  be  denied  that  his  serv- 
ices to  the  country  in  this  crisis  were  great.  Mr. 
Von  Hoist,  in  his  "  Constitutional  and  Political 
History  of  the  United  States,"  has  a  chapter  on 
41  The  Reign  of  Andrew  Jackson."  When  the  his- 
tory of  Indiana  shall  be  written,  it  might  fitly  con- 
tain a  chapter  on  "  The  Reign  of  Oliver  P.  Morton." 
He  made  himself  not  merely  the  master  of  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  State,  and  of  its  Rebel  ele- 
ment, but  of  his  own  party  as  well.  His  will,  to  a 
surprising  extent,  had  the  force  of  law  in  matters 
of  both  civil  and  military  administration.  His 
vigor  in  action  and  great  personal  magnetism  so 
rallied  the  people  to  his  support,  that  with  the 
rarest  exceptions  the  prominent  leaders  of  his  party 
quietly  succumbed  to  his  ambition,  and  recoiled 
from  the  thought  of  confronting  him,  even  when 
they  believed  him  in  the  wrong. 

His  hostility  to  me  began  with  my  election  to 
Congress  in  1849,  in  which,  as  a  Free  Soiler,  I  had 
the  united  support  of  the  Democratic  party  of  my 
district,  of  which  he  was  then  a  member.  I  never 
obtained  his  forgiveness  for  my  success  in  that  con- 
test, and  his  unfriendliness  was  afterward  aggra- 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE. 

vated  by  his  failure  as  a  Republican- leader  to  sup- 
plant me  in  the  district,  and  it  continued  to  the 
end.  I  knew  him  from  his  boyhood.  We  resided 
in  the  same  village  nearly  twenty  years,  and  began 
our  acquaintance  as  members  of  the  same  debating 
club.  For  years  we  were  intimate  and  attached 
friends,  and  I  believe  no  man  was  before  me  in  ap- 
preciating his  talents  and  predicting  for  "him  a  ca- 
reer of  political  distinction  and  usefulness.  During 
the  war,  earnest  efforts  were  made  by  his  friends 
and  mine  looking  to  a  reconciliation,  and  the  res- 
toration of  that  harmony  in  the  party  which  good 
men  on  both  sides  greatly  coveted ;  but  all  such 
efforts  necessarily  failed.  If  I  had  been  willing  to 
subordinate  my  political  convictions  and  sense  of 
duty  to  his  ambition,  peace  could  at  once  have 
been  restored ;  but  as  this  was  impossible,  I  was 
obliged  to  accept  the  warfare  which  continued  and 
increased,  and  which  I  always  regretted  and  de- 
plored. I  only  make  these  statements  in  justice 
to  the  truth. 

The  bill  providing  for  negro  suffrage  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  was  among  the  first  important 
measures  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress.  The  de- 
bate upon  it  in  January,  1866,  was  singularly  able 
and  thorough,  and  gave  strong  evidence  of  polit- 
ical progress.  All  efforts  to  postpone  the  measure, 
or  to  make  suffrage  restrictive,  were  voted  down, 
and  on  the  announcement  of  its  passage  the  cheer- 
ing was  tremendous.  Beginning  on  the  floor,  it 


POL: i:   u  RECOLLI 

was  quickly  caught  up  by  the  galleries,  and  the 
scene  resembled  that  which  followed  the  passage 
of  the  Constitutional  Amendment  already  referred 
to.  The  majority  was  over  two  to  one,  thus 
clearly  foreshadowing  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
negro  in  the  insurrectionary  districts.  I  believe 
only  two  of  my  colleagues  voted  with  me  for  its 
passage. 

The  question  of  reconstruction  was  brought 
directly  before  Congress  by  the  report  of  the  joint 
select  committee  on  that  subject,  submitting  the 
Fourteenth  Constitutional  Amendment.  The  sec- 
ond section  of  the  Amendment  was  a  measure  of 
compromise,  and  attempted  to  unite  the  radical 
and  conservative  wings  of  the  party  by  restricting 
the  right  of  representation  in  the  South  to  the  basis 
of  suffrage,  instead  of  extending  that  basis  in  con- 
formity to  the  right  of  representation.  It  was  a 
proposition  to  the  Rebels  that  if  they  would  agree 
that  the  negroes  should  not  be  counted  in  the  basis 
of  representation,  we  would  hand  them  over,  un- 
conditionally, to  the  tender  mercies  of  their  old 
masters.  It  sanctioned  the  barbarism  of  the  Rebel 
State  Governments  in  denying  the  right  of  repre- 
sentation to  their  freedmen,  simply  because  of  their 
race  and  color,  and  thus  struck  at  the  very  prin- 
ciple of  Democracy.  It  was  a  scheme  of  cold- 
blooded treachery  and  ingratitude  to  a  people 
who  had  contributed  nearly  two  hundred  thou- 
sand soldiers  to  the  armies  of  the  Union, 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE.        273 

and  among  whom  no  traitor  had  ever  been 
found ;  and  it  was  urged  as  a  means  of  securing 
equality  of  white  representation  in  the  Government 
when  that  object  could  have  been  perfectly  attained 
by  a  constitutional  amendment  arming  the  negroes 
of  the  South  with  the  ballot,  instead  of  leaving  them 
in  the  absolute  power  of  their  enemies.  Of  course, 
no  man  could  afford  to  vote  against  the  proposi- 
tion to  cut  down  rebel  representation  to  the  basis 
of  suffrage ;  but  to  recognize  the  authority  of  these 
States  to  make  political  outlaws  of  their  colored 
citizens  and  incorporate  this  principle  into  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  was  a  wanton  be- 
trayal of  justice  and  humanity.  Congress,  how- 
ever, was  unprepared  for  more  thorough  work. 
The  conservative  policy  which  had  so  long  sought 
to  spare  slavery  was  obliged,  as  usual,  to  feel  its 
way  cautiously,  and  wait  on  the  logic  of  events ; 
while  the  negro,  as  I  shall  show,  was  finally  in- 
debted for  the  franchise  to  the  desperate  madness 
of  his  enemies  in  rejecting  the  dishonorable  prop- 
osition of  his  friends. 

As  the  question  of  reconstruction  became  more 
and  more  engrossing,  the  signs  of  a  breach  between 
the  President  and  Congress  revealed  themselves. 
He  had  disappointed  the  hopes  of  his  radical  friends, 
and  begun  to  show  his  partiality  for  conservative 
and  Democratic  ideas.  His  estrangement  from  his 
party  probably  had  its  genesis  in  the  unfortunate 
exhibition  of  himself  at  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lin- 
18 


274  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTS 

coin,  and  the  condemnation  of  it  by  leading  Repub- 
licans, which  he  could  not  forget.  Instead  of  keep- 
ing his  promise  to  be  the  "  Moses  "  of  the  colored 
people  he  turned  his  back  upon  them  in  a  very  of- 
fensive public  speech.  His  veto  of  the  Frecdmen's 
Bureau  bill  finally  stripped  him  of  all  disguises,  and 
placed  him  squarely  against  Congress  and  the  peo- 
ple, while  the  House  met  his  defiance  by  a  concur- 
rent resolution  emphatically  condemning  his  recon- 
struction policy,  and  thus  opening  the  way  for  the 
coming  struggle  between  Executive  usurpation  and 
the  power  of  Congress.  His  maudlin  speech  on  the 
22d  of  February  to  the  political  mob  which  called 
on  him,  branding  as  traitors  the  leaders  of  the  party 
which  had  elected  him,  completely  dishonored  him 
in  the  opinion  of  all  Republicans,  and  awakened 
general  alarm.  Everybody  could  now  see  the  mis- 
take of  his  nomination  at  Baltimore,  and  that  he 
was  simply  a  narrow-minded  dogmatist  and  a  bull- 
dog in  disposition,  who  would  do  anything  in  his 
power  to  thwart  the  wishes  of  his  former  friends 

During  the  month  of  March  of  this  year,  at  the 
request  of  intelligent  working  men  in  the  employ  of 
the  Government,  I  introduced  a  bill  making  eight 
hours  a  day's  work  in  the  navy  yards  of  the  United 
States.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  eight  hour 
agitation  in  Congress.  I  had  not  given  much 
thought  to  the  necessity  for  such  legislation  in  this 
country',  but  the  proposed  measure  seemed  to  me 
an  augury  of  good  to  the  working  classes,  as  the 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE.         2?$ 

Ten  Hour  movement  had  proved  itself  to  be  twenty 
years  before.  It  could  plead  the  time  laws  of  En- 
gland as  a  precedent,  enacted  to  protect  humanity 
against  the  "  Lords  of  the  Loom."  These  laws  rec- 
ognized labor  as  capital  endowed  with  human  needs, 
and  entitled  to  the  special  guardianship  of  the  State, 
and  not  as  merchandise  merely,  to  be  governed 
solely  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.  While  I 
was  a  believer  in  Free  Trade,  I  was  not  willing  to 
follow  its  logic  in  all  cases  of  conflict  between  cap- 
ital and  labor.  My  warfare  against  chattel  slavery 
and  the  monopoly  of  the  soil  had  assumed  the  duty 
of  the  Government  to  secure  fair  play  and  equal 
opportunities  to  the  laboring  masses,  and  I  was 
willing  to  embody  that  idea  in  a  specific  legislative 
proposition,  and  thus  invite  its  discussion  and  the 
settlement  of  it  upon  its  merits. 

In  April  of  this  year  a  notable  passage  at  arms 
occurred  in  the  House  between  Mr.  Conkling  and 
Mr.  Elaine,  which  has  been  made  historic  by  the 
subsequent  career  of  these  great  Republican  chiefs. 
The  altercation  between  them  was  protracted  and 
very  personal,  and  grew  out  of  the  official  conduct 
of  Provost  Marshal  General  Fry.  The  animosity 
engendered  between  these  rivals  at  this  early  day 
seems  never  to  have  been  intermitted,  and  it  can 
best  be  appreciated  by  referring  to  the  closing  pas- 
sages of  their  remarkable  war  of  words  on  the  3oth 
of  this  month.  Mr.  Conkling's  language  was  very 
contemptuous,  and  in  concluding  he  said: 


fOUTKAL  XECOLLl 

"  If  the  member  from  Maine  had  the  least  idea 
how  profoundly  indifferent  I  am  to  his  opinion  upon 
the  subject  which  he  has  been  discussing,  or  upon 
any  other  subject  personal  to  me.  I  think  he  would 
hardly  take  the  trouble  to  rise  here  and  express  his 
opinion.  And  as  it  is  a  matter  of  entire  indifference 
to  me  what  that  opinion  may  be.  I  certainly  will  not 
detain  the  House  by  discussing  the  question  whether 
it  is  well  or  ill  founded,  or  by  noticing  what  he  says. 
I  submit  the  whole  matter  to  the  members  of  the 
House,  making,  as  I  do,  an  apology  (for  I  feel  that 
it  is  due  to  the  House)  for  the  length  of  time  which 
I  have  occupied  in  consequence  of  being  drawn  into 
explanations,  originally  by  an  interruption  which  I 
pronounced  the  other  day  ungentlemanly  and  im- 
pertinent, and  having  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  question." 

Mr.  Blaine,  in  reply,  referred  to  Mr.  Conkling's 
"  grandiloquent  swell  "  and  his  "  turkey  gobbler 
strut."  and  concluded : 

"  I  know  that  within  the  last  five  weeks,  as  mem- 
bers of  the  House  will  recollect,  an  extra  strut  has 
characterized  the  gentleman's  bearing.  It  is  not 
his  fault  It  is  the  fault  of  another.  •  That  gifted 
and  satirical  writer,  Theodore  Tilton,  of  the  "  Xew 
York  Independent,"  spent  some  weeks  recently  in 
this  city.  His  letters  published  in  that  paper,  em- 
braced, with  many  serious  statements,  a  little  jocose 
satire,  a  part  of  which  was  the  statement  that  the 
mantle  of  the  late  Winter  Davis  had  fallen  upon 


Ac  Motor  fcm  Mar  Yovk.    Tte  geMfeanam  took 

.  .  ^  .  .     -  ^.       „        .  .       .  .  .      .      :-----.-. 

poaapasBty.    "Tic  mBBUhBCC  is  gicai     It  is  <lirifc- 
iag.    IIjumiuatpaaBtyr,  Thentes  ID  Hnudh  IL 

t  "   "-    "    "  .       .      .    v      --------      . 

fipHL    Shade  of  Ac  •ngifly    Rmn 

i  -  -  -:  -  --  -'-•_-    -     -      "  -      -     ••:       .    -.-•.:  -: 


...      ;    .       .  .        .  .  -  .     .     .  .  _        .      .      .       . 

.       .  .          .     .  .       .  -,r  -  :  _.f          •  .:    :  •  t 

-  ...     -..-,,    ;•-   :,::-   -_-  ,,^ 


rratt    Ac   RcpanbJucaBB 


i  _'r ~: :  T..L     '-'.''\ 
_-"."..     -..'.  ;     fc:-.;   :       -  -    _  '  ~  j  -  v  -  -  : "  7   :•:     :~ •'    : 

'-'-_•'    --'-''-    '•    •  ".     •     '••"-•       ."     -i.i      7-          i.~  - 
faGlcdL  9HO  OvcadbcBcd  UHC  flMBB 


... 

_  •       .  :     :  "  '  :  •    v.;    :." 

:-r  -----    -•'  '-   -      -  --.--::    : 

'  '      L.  -  r   -..-  i  r   .  -  :  r  -   :  ; 


-  S  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

spicuous.  Of  the  millions  of  acres  disposed  of 
by  the  Government  through  assignable  land-war- 
rants in  the  pretended  interest  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
Mexican  War  a  very  small  fraction  was  appropri- 
ated to  their  use.  The  great  body  of  the  land  fell  into 
the  hands  of  monopolists,  who  thus  hindered  the 
settlement  and  productive  wealth  of  the  country, 
while  the  sum  received  by  the  soldier  for  his  war- 
rant was  in  very  many  cases  a  mere  mockery  of 
his  just  claims,  and  in  no  instance  an  adequate 
bounty.  The  policy,  however,  had  become  tradi- 
tional, and  now.  at  the  close  of  the  grandest  of  .ill 
our  wars,  it  was  quite  natural  for  the  country's 
defenders  to  claim  its  supposed  benefits.  Con- 
gress was  flooded  with  their  petitions,  and  it 
required  uncommon  political  courage  to  oppose 
their  wishes.  It  was  very  plausibly  urged  that  the 
Nation,  with  its  heavy  load  of  debt,  could  not  pay 
a  bounty  in  money,  and  that  it  should  be  done  by 
drawing  liberally  upon  the  thousand  million  acres 
of  the  public  domain.  Some  of  the  advocates  of 
this  policy  openly  favored  the  repeal  of  the  Home- 
stead law  for  this  purpose,  just  as  Thurlow  Weed, 
earlier  in  the  war,  had  demanded  its  repeal  so  that 
our  public  lands  could  be  mortgaged  to  European 
capitalists  in  security  for  the  money  we  needed  to 
carry  on  the  struggle.  The  situation  became  crit- 
ical. Everybody  was  eager  to  reward  the  soldier, 
and  especially  the  politicians ;  and  there  seemed  to 
be  no  other  way  to  do  it  than  by  bounties  in  land, 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  SUFFRAGE.         279 

for  which  all  our  previous  wars  furnished  prece- 
dents. The  House  Committee  on  Public  Lands 
considered  the  question  with  great  care  and  anxiety, 
and  in  the  hope  of  check-mating  the  project  made 
a  report  in  response  to  one  of  the  many  petitions 
for  land  bounty  which  had  been  referred  to  it,  em- 
bodying some  very  significant  facts.  It  showed 
that  more  than  two  millions  and  a  quarter  of  sol- 
diers would  be  entitled  to  a  bounty  in  land,  and  that 
it  would  require  more  than  one  third  of  the  public 
domain  remaining  undisposed  of,  and  cover  nearly 
all  of  it  that  was  really  fit  for  agriculture;  that  the 
warrants  would  undoubtedly  be  made  assignable, 
as  in  the  case  of  previous  bounties,  and  that  land 
speculation  would  thus  find  its  new  birth  and  have 
free  course  in  its  dreadful  ravages ;  and  that  it 
would  prove  the  practical  overthrow  of  the  policy 
of  our  pre-emption  and  homestead  laws  and  turn 
back  the  current  of  American  civilization  and  prog- 
ress. The  report  further  insisted  that  the  Nation 
could  not  honorably  plead  poverty  in  bar  of  the 
great  debt  it  owed  its  defenders,  and  it  was  accom- 
panied by  a  bill  providing  a  bounty  in  money  at  the 
rate  of  eight  and  one  third  dollars  per  month  for 
the  time  of  their  service,  which  was  drawn  after  con- 
ferring with  intelligent  men  among  them  who  fully 
appreciated  the  facts  and  arguments  of  the  commit- 
tee. This  report  and  its  accompanying  bill  had  an 
almost  magical  effect.  They  not  only  perfectly  sat- 
isfied the  soldiers  everywhere,  but  revolutionized 


A'/.tW./ . 


the  opinion  of  both  Houses  of  Gm^resv.  aiui  thus 
saved  the  public  domain  from  the  wholesale  spolia- 
tion that  hail  threatened  it.  The  bill  was  referred 
to  the  Military  Committee,  and  afterward  became 
well  known  by  the  title  of  "General  Schenck's  bill." 
It  passed  the  House,  but  failed  in  the  Senate.  It 
passed  the  House  repeatedly  at  different  sessions  of 
Congress  afterward,  although  it  never  becam 
law;  but  it  was  the  timely  and  fortunate  instrument 
through  which  the  public  domain  was  saved  from 
the  wreck  which  menaced  it  in  the  hasty  adoption 
of  a  scheme  which  would  have  proved  as  worthless 
to  our  soldiers  as  disastrous  to  the  country. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MINERAL    LANDS    AND    THE    RIGHT    OF    PRE-EMPTION. 

The  lead  and  copper  lands  of  the  Northwest — The  gold-bearing 
regions  of  the  Pacific,  and  their  disposition — A  legislative 
reminiscence — Mining  Act  of  1866,  and  how  it  was  passed — 
Its  deplorable  failure,  and  its  lesson — Report  of  the  Land  Com- 
mission— The  Right  of  Pre-emption,  and  the  "  Dred  Scott 
decision  "  of  the  settlers. 

THE  action  of  the  Government  in  dealing  with 
the  mineral  lands  of  the  United  States  forms  one 
of  the  most  curious  chapters  in  the  history  of  leg- 
islation. It  had  its  beginning  in  the  famous  Con- 
gressional Ordinance  of  May  20,  1785,  which  re- 
served one  third  part  of  all  gold,  silver,  lead  and 
copper  mines  to  be  sold  or  otherwise  disposed  of 
as  Congress  might  direct.  From  this  time  till  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  California  in  1848,  the  legis- 
lation of  Congress  respecting  mineral  lands  related 
exclusively  to  those  containing  the  base  or  merely 
useful  metals,  and  applied  only  to  the  regions  now 
embraced  by  the  States  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  Illinois  and  Missouri.  The  policy  of  reserv- 
ing mineral  lands  from  sale  was  obviously  of 
feudal  origin,  and  naturally  led  to  the  leasing  of 
such  lands  by  the  Government,  which  was  inau- 
(281) 


.  S  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

guratcd  by  the  Act  of  Congress  of  March  3,  1807. 
The  Act  of  Congress  of  March  3,  1829,  provided 
for  the  sale  of  the  reserved  lead  mines  and  contig- 
uous lands  in  Missouri,  on  six  months'  notice,  but 
mineral  lands  elsewhere  remained  reserved,  and 
continued  to  be  leased  by  the  Government.  This 
policy  was  thoroughly  and  perseveringly  tried, 
and  proved  utterly  unprofitable  and  ruinous. 
President  Polk,  in  his  message  of  December  2, 
1845,  declared  that  the  income  derived  from  the 
leasing  system  for  the  years  1841,  1842,  1843  and 
1844  was  less  than  one  fourth  of  its  expense,  and 
he  recommended  its  abolition,  and  that  these  lands 
be  brought  into  market.  The  leasing  policy 
drew  into  the  mining  regions  a  population  of  va- 
grants, idlers  and  gamblers,  who  resisted  the  pay- 
ment of  taxes  on  the  product  of  the  mines,  and 
defied  the  agents  of  the  Government.  It  excluded 
sober  and  intelligent  citizens,  and  hindered  the  estab- 
lishment of  organized  communities  and  the  devel- 
opment of  the  mines.  The  miners  were  violently 
opposed  to  the  policy  of  sale,  but  the  evils  incident 
to  the  leasing  policy  became  so  intolerable  that 
the  Government  was  at  length  obliged  to  provide 
for  the  sale  of  the  lands  in  fee,  which  it  did  by  Acts 
of  Congress  of  July  II,  1846,  and  March  I  and  3, 
1847.  The  tracts  occupied  and  worked  by  the 
miners  under  their  leases  possessed  every  variety 
of  shape  and  boundary,  but  there  were  no  diffi- 
culties which  were  not  readily  adjusted  under  the 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  283 

rectangular  system  of  surveys  and  the  regulations 
of  the  Land  Department.  A  new  class  of  men  at 
once  took  possession  of  these  regions  as  owners  of 
the  soil,  brought  their  families  with  them,  laid  the 
foundations  of  social  order,  expelled  the  semi-bar- 
barians who  had  secured  a  temporary  occupancy, 
and  thus,  at  once  promoted  their  own  welfare,  the 
prosperity  of  the  country,  and  the  financial  inter- 
ests of  the  Government.  Under  this  reformed  pol- 
icy the  lead  and  copper  lands  of  the  regions  named 
were  disposed  of  in  fee. 

But  the  gold-bearing  regions  covered  by  our 
Mexican  acquisitions  created  a  new  dispensation 
in  mining,  and  invited  the  attention  of  Congress  to 
the  consideration  of  a  new  and  exceedingly  impor- 
tant question.  How  should  these  mineral  lands  be 
disposed  of?  They  covered  an  area  of  a  million 
square  miles,  and  their  exploration  and  development 
became  a  matter  of  the  most  vital  moment,  not  only 
in  a  financial  point  of  view,  but  as  a  means  of  pro- 
moting the  settlement  and  tillage  of  the  agricultural 
lands  contiguous  to  the  mineral  deposits.  President 
Fillmore,  in  his  message  of  December  2,  1849,  rec' 
ommended  the  sale  of  these  lands  in  small  par- 
cels, and  Mr.  Ewing,  his  Secretary  of  the  Interior^ 
urged  upon  Congress  the  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  recommended  the  policy  of  leasing  them  ; 
but  no  attention  seems  to  have  been  given  to  these 
recommendations.  By  Act  of  Congress  of  Sep- 
tember 27,  1850,  mineral  lands  in  Oregon  were  re- 


POLITICAL  KhCOLLECTlONS. 

served  from  sale;  and  by  Acts  of  March  3,  1853, 
and  of  July  22,  1854,  they  were  reserved  in  Cali- 
fornia and  New  Mexico.  This  was  the  extent  of 
Congressional  action.  Early  in  the  late  war,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Hon.  Caleb  B.  Smith,  re- 
ferred to  the  question,  and  the  Commissioner  of 
the  General  Land  Office  afterward  repeatedly  rec 
ommended  the  policy  of  leasing,  but  Congress 
took  no  notice  of  the  subject.  My  interest  in  the 
question  was  first  awakened  in  the  fall  of  1864,  in 
carefully  overhauling  our  land  policy.  Our  mineral 
lands  for  more  than  sixteen  years  had  been  open  to 
all  comers  from  whatever  quarter  of  the  globe, 
during  which  time  more  than  a  thousand  million 
dollars  had  been  extracted,  from  which  not  a  dollar 
of  revenue  reached  the  National  Treasury  save  the 
comparatively  trifling  amount  derived  from  the  In- 
ternal Revenue  tax  on  bullion.  This  fact  was  so 
remarkable  that  it  was  difficult  to  accept  it  as  true. 
The  Government  had  no  policy  whatever  in  deal- 
ing with  these  immense  repositories  ol  national 
wealth,  and  declined  to  have  any  ;  for  a  policy  im- 
plies that  something  is  to  be  done,  and  points  out 
the  method  of  doing  it.  It  had  prohibited  the  sale 
of  mineral  lands,  and  then  come  to  a  dead  halt.  The 
Constitution  expressly  provides  that  Congress  shall 
have  power  "  to  make  all  needful  rules  and  regula- 
tions respecting  the  territory  or  other  property  be- 
longing to  the  United  States";  but  Congress,  in 
reserving  these  lands  from  sale  and  taking  no 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  285 

measures  whatever  respecting  their  products,  sim- 
ply abandoned  them,  and,  as  the  trustee  of  the 
Nation,  became  as  recreant  as  the  father  who  aban- 
dons his  minor  child. 

The  case  was  a  very  curious  one,  and  the  more 
I  considered  it,  the  more  astonished  I  became  at 
the  strange  indifference  of  the  Government,  and 
that  no  public  man  of  any  party  had  ever  given  the 
subject  the  slightest  attention.  The  Nation  had 
been  selling  its  lands  containing  iron,  copper  and 
lead,  and  the  policy  of  vesting  an  absolute  fee  in  in- 
dividual proprietors  had  been  accepted  on  actual 
trial,  and  after  the  leasing  policy  had  signally  failed, 
and  I  could  see  nothing  in  the  distinction  between 
the  useful  and  precious  metals  which  required  a 
different  policy  for  the  latter.  Some  policy  was 
absolutely  demanded.  The  country,  loaded  down 
by  a  great  and  constantly  increasing  war  debt, 
could  not  afford  to  turn  away  from  so  tempting  a 
source  of  revenue.  To  sleep  over  its  grand  oppor- 
tunity was  as  stupid  as  it  was  criminal.  It  was  ob- 
vious that  if  the  Government  continued  to  reserve 
these  lands  from  sale,  some  form  of  tax  or  royalty 
on  their  products  must  be  resorted  to  as  a  measure 
of  financial  policy  ;  but  this  would  have  involved  the 
same  political  anomaly  as  the  policy  of  leasing,  and 
the  same  failure.  In  principle  it  was  the  same.  To 
retain  the  fee  of  the  lands  in  the  Government  and  im- 
pose a  rent  upon  their  occupants,  would  make  the 
Government  a  great  landlord,  and  the  miners  its  ten- 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

ants.  Such  a  policy  would  not  be  American,  but 
European.  It  would  not  be  Democratic,  but  Feudal. 
It  would  be  to  follow  the  Governments  of  the  Old 
World,  which  reserve  their  mineral  lands  for  the 
Crown,  because  they  are  esteemed  too  precious  for 
the  people.  It  was  at  war  with  our  theory  of 
Democracy,  which  has  respect  chiefly  to  the  indi- 
vidual, and  seeks  to  strengthen  the  Government 
by  guarding  his  rights  and  promoting  his  well- 
being.  These  considerations  convinced  me  that 
the  time  had- come  to  abandon  the  non-action  course 
of  the  Government,  and  adopt  a  policy  in  harmony 
with  our  general  legislation ;  and  that  the  survey 
and  sale  of  these  lands  in  fee  was  the  best  and  only 
method  of  promoting  security  of  titles,  permanent 
settlements,  and  thorough  development.  As  early 
as  December,  1864,  I  therefore  introduced  a  bill 
embodying  this  policy,  which  was  followed  by  a 
similar  measure,  early  in  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress, 
accompanied  by  an  elaborate  report,  arguing  the 
question  pretty  fully,  and  combating  all  the  objec- 
tions to  the  principle  and  policy  of  sale.  My  views 
were  commended  by  Secretary  McCullough,  as 
they  had  been  by  Mr.  Chase,  while  I  was  glad  to 
find  them  supported  by  intelligent  men  from  Cali- 
fornia, who  spoke  from  actual  observation  and  ex- 
tensive experience  in  mining. 

But  although  this  measure  fully  protected  all 
miners  in  the  right  of  exploration  and  discovery, 
and  carefully  guarded  against  any  interference  with 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  28? 

vested  rights,  the  idea  was  in  some  way  rapidly 
and  extensively  propagated  that  it  contemplated  a 
sweeping  confiscation  of  all  their  claims,  and  the 
less  informed  among  them  became  wild  with  ex- 
citement. The  politicians  of  California  and  Neva- 
da, instead  of  endeavoring  to  enlighten  them  and 
quiet  this  excitement,  yielded  to  it  absolutely. 
They  became  as  completely  its  instruments  as  they 
have  since  been  of  the  Anti-Mongolian  feeling. 
They  argued,  at  first,  that  no  Congressional  legis- 
lation was  necessary,  and  that  while  the  Govern- 
ment should  retain  the  fee  of  these  lands,  the 
miners  should  have  the  entire  control  of  them  un- 
der regulations  prescribed  by  themselves.  This, 
it  was  believed,  would  placate  the  miners  and  set- 
tle the  question ;  but  the  introduction  of  the  meas- 
ure referred  to,  and  the  agitation  of  the  ques- 
tion, had  made  some  form  of  legislation  inevitable, 
and  the  question  now  was  to  determine  what  that 
legislation  should  be.  Senators  Conness  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  Stewart  of  Nevada,  who  were  exceed- 
ingly hostile  to  the  bill  I  had  introduced,  and 
feared  its  passage,  sought  to  avert  it  by  carrying 
through  the  Senate  "  a  bill  to  regulate  the  occupa- 
tion of  mineral  lands  and  to  extend  the  right  of 
pre-emption  thereto,"  which  they  hoped  would 
satisfy  their  constituents  and  prevent  further  legis- 
lation. They  supported  it  as  the  next  best  thing 
to  total  non-action  by  Congress.  It  provided  for 
giving  title  to  the  miners,  but  it  did  this  by  practi- 


B  s  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


cally  abdicating  the  jurisdiction  of  the  National 
Government  over  these  lands,  with  its  recognized 
and  well-settled  machinery  for  determining  all 
questions  of  title  and  boundary,  and  handing  them 
over  to  "  the  local  custom  or  rules  of  the  miners." 
These  "  local  rules  "  were  to  govern  the  miner  in 
the  location,  extension  and  boundary  of  his  claim, 
the  manner  of  developing  it,  and  the  survey  also, 
which  was  not  to  be  executed  with  any  reference 
to  base  lines  as  in  the  case  of  other  public  lands, 
but  in  utter  disregard  of  the  same.  The  Surveyor 
General  was  to  make  a  plat  or  diagram  of  the 
claim,  and  transmit  it  to  the  Commissioner  of  the 
General  Land  Office,  who,  as  the  mere  agent  and 
clerk  of  the  miner,  with  no  judicial  authority 
whatever,  was  required  to  issue  the  patent.  In 
case  of  any  conflict  between  claimants  it  was  to  be 
determined  by  the  "  local  courts,"  without  any 
right  of  appeal  to  the  local  land  offices,  the  Gen- 
eral Land  Office,  or  to  the  Federal  courts.  The 
Government  was  thus  required  to  part  with  its 
lands  by  proceedings  executed  by  officials  wholly 
outside  of  its  jurisdiction,  and  irresponsible  to  its 
authority.  The  act  not  only  abolished  our  rect- 
angular system  of  surveys,  but  still  further  insulted 
the  principles  of  mathematics  and  the  dictates  of 
common  sense  by  providing  that  the  claimant 
should  have  the  right  to  follow  his  vein  or  lode, 
"with  its  dips,  angles  and  variations  to  any  depth, 
although  it  may  enter  the  land  adjoining,  which 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  289 

land  adjoining  shall  be  sold  subject  to  this  condi- 
tion "  ;  a  right  unknown  to  the  mining  codes  of 
England,  France  or  Prussia,  and  not  sanctioned  by 
those  of  Spain  or  Mexico.  Subject  to  this  novel 
principle  the  crudely  extemporized  rules  of  the 
miners  were  to  be  recognized  as  law,  and  this  sys- 
tem of  instability  and  uncertainty  made  the  basis  of 
title  and  the  arbiter  of  all  disputes,  instead  of  sweep- 
ing it  away  and  ushering  in  a  system  of  perma- 
nence and  peace  through  the  well-appointed  agency 
of  the  Land  Department.  It  was  easy  to  see  that 
this  was  an  act  to  encourage  litigation  and  for  the 
benefit  of  lawyers,  and  not  to  promote  the  real  in- 
terest of  the  miners  or  increase  the  product  of  the 
mines. 

This  was  made  perfectly  clear  at  the  time,  by 
the  report  of  a  Senate  committee  of  the  Legisla- 
ture of  Nevada.  In  speaking  of  the  local  laws  of 
the  miners,  it  says,  "  There  never  was  confusion 
worse  confounded.  More  than  two  hundred  dis- 
tricts within  the  limits  of  a  single  State,  each  with 
its  self-approved  code ;  these  codes  differing  not 
alone  each  from  the  other,  but  presenting  number- 
less instances  of  contradiction  in  themselves.  The 
law  of  one  point  is  not  the  law  of  another  five 
miles  distant,  and  a  little  further  on  will  be  a  code 
which  is  the  law  of  neither  of  the  former,  and  so 
on,  adinfinitum;  with  the  further  disturbing  fact 
superadded,  that  the  written  laws  themselves  may 
be  overrun  by  some  peculiar  custom  which  can  be 
19 


290  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

found  nowhere  recorded,  and  the  proof  of  which 
will  vary  with  the  volume  of  interested  affidavits 
which  may  be  brought  on  either  side  to  establish  it. 
Again,  in  one  district  the  work  to  be  done  to  hold 
a  claim  is  nominal,  in  another  exorbitant,  in 
another  abolished,  in  another  adjourned  from  year 
to  year.  A  stranger,  seeking  to  ascertain  the 
law,  is  surprised  to  learn  that  there  is  no  satisfac- 
tory public  record  to  which  he  can  refer;  no  pub- 
lic officer  to  whom  he  may  apply,  who  is  under  any 
bond  or  obligation  to  furnish  him  information,  or 
guarantee  its  authenticity.  Often,  in  the  new 
districts,  he  finds  there  is  not  even  the  semblance 
of  a  code,  but  a  simple  resolution  adopting  the 
code  of  some  other  district,  which  may  be  a  hun- 
dred miles  distant.  What  guarantee  has  he  for 
the  investment  of  either  capital  or  labor  under  such 
a  system?"  The  report  proceeds  to  show  that 
these  regulations  can  have  no  permanency.  "  A 
miner's  meeting,"  it  declares,  "adopts  a  code;  it 
stands  apparently  as  the  law.  Some  time  after,  on 
a  few  days'  notice,  a  corporal's  guard  assembles, 
and,  on  simple  motion,  radically  changes  the  whole 
system  by  which  claims  may  be  held  in  a  district. 
Before  a  man  may  traverse  the  State,  the  laws  of  a 
district,  which  by  examination  and  study  he  may 
have  mastered,  may  be  swept  away,  and  no  longer 
stand  as  the  laws  which  govern  the  interest  he  may 
have  acquired  ;  and  the  change  has  been  one  which 
by  no  reasonable  diligence  could  he  be  expected 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  29 1 

to  have  knowledge  of."  Of  course  these  facts  thus 
officially  stated  in  the  interest  of  the  miners  of 
Nevada,  were  applicable  to  California,  and  all  the 
mining  States  and  Territories,  and  they  fitly  and 
very  forcibly  rebuked  the  attempt  to  enact  the  Sen- 
ate bill. 

When  this  bill  reached  the  House  it  was  prop- 
erly referred  to  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands, 
which  then  had  under  consideration  the  bill  I  had 
reported  providing  for  the  survey  and  sale  of  mineral 
lands  through  the  regular  machinery  of  the  Land 
Department.  The  House  Committee  subsequently 
reported  it  favorably,  and  could  not  be  persuaded 
by  the  delegations  from  California  and  Nevada  to 
adopt  the  Senate  bill  as  a  substitute.  Senators 
Stewart  and  Conness,  finding  their  project  thus  baf- 
fled, and  becoming  impatient  of  delay  as  the  session 
neared  its  close,  called  up  a  House  bill  entitled 
"  An  Act  granting  the  right  of  way  to  ditch  and 
canal  owners  over  the  Public  Lands  in  the  States 
of  California,  Oregon  and  Nevada,"  and  succeeded, 
by  sharp  practice,  in  carrying  a  motion  to  strike 
out  the  whole  of  the  bill  except  the  enacting 
clause,  and  insert  the  bill  which  the  Senate  had 
already  enacted  and  was  then  before  the  House 
Committee.  This  maneuver  succeeded,  and  the 
bill,  thus  enacted  by  the  Senate  a  second  time,  and 
now  under  a  false  title,  was  sent  to  the  House, 
where  it  found  its  place  on  the  Speaker's  table, 
and  was  lying  in  wait  for  the  sudden  and  unlocked- 


292  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

for  movement  which  was  to  follow.  The  title  was 
misleading,  and  thus  enabled  Mr.  Ashley  of  Ne- 
vada, to  obtain  the  floor  when  it  was  reached,  and 
under  the  gag,  which  of  course  would  cut  off  all 
amendment  and  debate,  he  attempted  to  force 
through  a  measure  revolutionizing  the  whole  land 
policy  of  the  Government  so  far  as  relates  to  the 
Western  side  of  the  continent,  and  surrendering  the 
national  authority  over  its  vast  magazines  of  min- 
eral wealth  to  the  legalized  jargon  and  bewilder- 
ment I  have  depicted.  I  succeeded  in  preventing 
a  vote  by  carrying  an  adjournment,  but  the  ques- 
tion came  up  the  next  day,  and  the  Senators  re- 
ferred to,  with  their  allies  in  the  House,  had  used 
such  marvelous  industry  in  organizing  and  drilling 
their  forces,  and  the  majority  of  the  members  knew 
so  little  about  the  question  involved,  that  I  found 
the  chances  decidedly  against  me.  I  was  obliged, 
also,  to  encounter  a  prevailing  but  perfectly  un- 
warranted presumption  that  the  representatives  of 
the  mining  States  were  the  best  judges  of  the 
question  in  dispute,  while  it  was  foolishly  regarded 
as  a  local  one,  with  which  the  old  States  had  no 
concern.  The  clumsy  and  next  to  incomprehensi- 
ble bill  thus  became  a  law,  and  by  legislative 
methods  as  indefensible  as  the  measure  itself. 

Such  is  the  history  of  this  remarkable  experiment 
in  legislation ;  but  it  is  an  experiment  no  longer. 
Its  character  has  been  perfectly  established  by  time. 
and  the  logic  of  actual  facts.  It  has  been  exten- 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  293 

sively  and  thoroughly  tried,  and  after  repeated 
attempts  to  amend  it  by  supplementary  legislation, 
its  failure  stands  recorded  in  the  manifold  evils  it 
has  wrought.  The  Land  Commission,  appointed 
under  the  administration  of  President  Hayes  in 
pursuance  of  an  Act  of  Congress  to  classify  the  Pub- 
lic Lands  and  codify  the  laws  relating  to  their  dis- 
position, visited  the  mining  States  and  Territories 
in  detail,  and  devoted  ample  time  to  the  examina- 
tion of  witnesses  and  experts  in  every  important 
locality  touching  the  policy  and  practical  operation 
of  the  laws  in  force  relating  to  mineral  lands.  This 
Commission  condemned  these  laws  on  the  strength 
of  overwhelming  evidence,  and  recommended  a 
thorough  and  radical  reform,  including  the  reference 
of  all  disputed  questions  as  to  title  and  boundary 
to  the  regular  officials  of  the  United  States ;  the 
abolition  of  the  "  local  custom  or  rules  of  miners," 
with  the  "  local  courts  "  provided  for  their  adjudica- 
tion ;  and  the  adoption  of  the  United  States  sur- 
veys as  far  as  practicable,  including  the  geodetical 
principle  of  ownership  in  lieu  of  the  policy  of 
allowing  the  miner  to  follow  his  vein,  "  with  its 
dips,  angles  and  variations  under  the  adjoining  land 
of  his  neighbor,"  which  policy  is  declared  to  be  the 
source  of  incalculable  litigation.  The  Commission, 
in  short,  urged  the  adoption  of  the  principles  of  the 
Common  Law  and  the  employment  of  the  appro- 
priate machinery  of  the  Land  Department,  as  a 
substitute  for  the  frontier  regulations  which  Con- 


2Q4  POLITICAL  RECOLLECT] 

grcss  made  haste  to  nationalize  in  1866.  It  de- 
clared that  under  these  regulations  "  title  after 
title  hangs  on  a  local  record  which  may  be  defective, 
mutilated,  stolen  for  blackmail,  or  destroyed  to 
accomplish  fraud,  and  of  which  the  grantor,  the 
Government,  has  neither  knowledge  nor  control  "; 
tnat  in  the  evidence  taken  "  it  was  repeatedly 
shown  that  two  or  three  prospectors,  camped  in 
the  wilderness,  have  organized  a  mining  district, 
prescribed  regulations  involving  size  of  claims, 
mode  oflocation  and  nature  of  record,  elected  one 
of  their  number  recorder,  and  that  officer,  on  the 
back  of  an  envelope,  or  on  the  ace  of  spades 
grudgingly  spared  from  his  pack,  can  make  with 
the  stump  of  a  lead  pencil  an  entry  that  the  Govern- 
ment recognizes  as  the  inception  of  a  title  which 
may  convey  millions  of  dollars ;  that  even  when 
the  recorder  is  duly  elected  he  is  not  responsible 
to  the  United  States,  is  neither  bonded  nor  under 
oath,  may  falsify  or  destroy  his  record,  may  vitiate 
the  title  to  millions  of  dollars,  and  snap  his  fingers 
in  the  face  of  the  Government;  and  that  our  present 
mining  law  might  fitly  be  entitled  "  An  Act  to  cause 
the  Government  to  join,  upon  unknown  terms,  with 
an  unknown  second  party,  to  convey  to  a  third 
party  an  illusory  title  to  an  indefinite  thing,  and 
encourage  the  subsequent  robbery  thereof." 

These  strong  statements  are  made  by  a  Govern- 
ment commission  composed  of  able  and  impartial 
men,  who  were  guided  in  their  patient  search  after 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  295 

the  truth  by  the  evidence  of  "  a  cloud  of  witnesses," 
who  spoke  from  personal  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence. The  character  of  our  mining  laws  is  there- 
fore not  a  matter  of  theory,  but  of  demonstrated 
fact  They  scourge  the  mining  States  and  Terri- 
tories with  the  unspeakable  curse  of  uncertainty 
of  land  titles,  as  everywhere  attested  by  incurable 
litigation  and  strife.  They  thus  undermine  the 
morals  of  the  people,  and  pave  the  way  for  vio- 
lence and  crime.  They  cripple  a  great  national 
industry  and  source  of  wealth,  and  insult  the  prin 
ciples  of  American  jurisprudence.  And  the  mis- 
fortune of  this  legislation  is  heightened  by  the 
probability  of  its  continuance  ;  for  it  is  not  easy  to 
uproot  a  body  of  laws  once  accepted  by  a  people, 
however  mischievous  in  their  character.  Custom, 
and  the  faculty  of  adaptation,  have  a  very  recon- 
ciling influence  upon  communities  as  well  as  indi- 
viduals. Moreover,  men  absorbed  in  a  feverish 
and  hazardous  industry,  and  stimulated  by  the  hope 
of  sudden  wealth,  are  not  disposed  to  consider  the 
advantages  of  permanent  ownership  and  security 
of  title.  Their  business  is  to  make  their  locations 
according  to  local  custom,  and  sell  out  to  the 
capitalists ;  while  the  men  who  feel  the  burden  of 
litigation  and  the  evil  of  uncertain  titles,  are  not 
the  men  who  control  public  opinion  and  influence 
the  course  of  legislation.  It  may  thus  happen 
that  a  system  of  laws  initiated  by  itinerant  miners 
solely  for  the  protection  of  their  transient  pos- 


roi.rih  \i 

sessory  int-.-iv>K  and  carried  through 
at  their  behest  by  parliamentary  roguery,  may  be 
permanently  engrafted  upon  half  the  continent. 
If  California  had  been  contiguous  to  the  older 
States,  and  her  mining  operations  had  only  kept 
pace  with  the  progress  of  settlements,  or  if  her 
representatives  had  been  less  ready  to  sacrifice  the 
enduring  interests  of  their  constituents  for  tempo 
rary  and  selfish  ends,  the  wretched  travesty  of  law 
which  now  afflicts  the  States  and  Territories  of  the 
West  would  have  been  unknown,  and  the  same 
code  and  forms  of  administration  would  have  prc 
vailed  from  the  lakes  to  the  Pacific. 

The  lesson  of  this  vital  mistake  is  a  pregnant  one. 
The  laws  regulating  the  ownership  and  disposition 
of  landed  property  not  only  affect  the  well-being 
but  frequently  the  destiny  of  a  people.  The  system 
of  primogeniture  and  entail  adopted  by  the  South- 
ern States  of  our  Union  favored  the  policy  of  great 
estates,  and  the  ruinous  system  of  landlordism  and 
slavery  which  finally  laid  waste  the  fairest  and  most 
fertile  section  of  the  Republic  and  threatened  its 
life;  while  the  New  England  States,  in  adopting  a 
different  system,  laid  the  foundations  of  their  pros- 
perity in  the  soil  itself,  and  "took  a  bond  of  fate" 
for  the  welfare  of  unborn  generations.  Their  polit- 
ical institutions  were  the  logical  outcome  of  their 
laws  respecting  landed  property,  which  favored  a 
great  subdivision  of  the  land  and  great  equality 
among  the  people,  thus  promoting  prosperous  cul- 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  297 


tivation,  compact  communities,  general  education, 
a  healthy  public  opinion,  democracy  in  managing 
the  affairs  of  the  church,  and  that  system  of  local 
self-government  which  has  since  prevailed  over  so 
many  States.  So  intimate  and  vital  are  the  rela- 
tions between  a  community  and  the  soil  it  occupies 
that  in  the  nomenclature  of  politics  the  word  "  peo- 
ple" and  "  land"  are  convertible  terms;  but  no 
people  can  prosper  under  any  system  of  land  ten- 
ures which  tolerates  a  vexatious  uncertainty  of  title, 
and  thus  prompts  every  man  to  become  the  enemy 
of  his  neighbor  in  the  scuffle  for  his  rights.  Such 
a  state  of  affairs  is  worse  than  pestilence  or  famine; 
but  the  evil  of  uncertain  titles  puts  on  new  and  very 
aggravated  forms  in  our  gold-bearing  regions.  The 
business  of  mining  naturally  awakens  the  strongest 
passions.  It  sharpens  the  faculties  and  dulls  the 
conscience.  It  gives  to  cupidity  its  keenest  edge. 
Its  prizes  are  often  rich  and  suddenly  gained,  and 
when  they  are  sought  through  the  forms  of  a  law 
which  compels  a  man  to  choose  between  an  expen- 
sive and  hazardous  litigation  and  robbery,  human 
nature  is  severely  tried.  No  situation  could  well 
be  more  deplorable  than  that  which  obliges  a  man 
to  pay  heavy  black-mail  as  the  only  means  of  sav- 
ing his  property  from  legal  confiscation  by  another; 
and  the  moral  ravages  of  a  code  which  allows  this 
can  not  be  computed.  It  tempts  civilized  men  to 
become  savages  and  savages  to  become  devils.  It 
is  not  a  mistake  merely,  but  a  great  misfortune,  that 


.'. ,  S  /V »/  /  / 7(  J I  /    A' fit '( >/.  /  KCTIONS. 

our  laws  touching  so  delicate  and  vital  a  question  as 
the  ownership  and  transfer  of  mineral  lands  were 
not  so  framed  as  to  avert  these  frightful  evils.  So 
far  as  the  past  is  concerned  they  are  without  rem- 
edy, and  there  is  no  positive  safeguard  for  the  future 
but  in  a  return  to  the  time-honored  principles  which 
give  to  the  owner  of  the  surface  all  that  may  be 
found  within  his  lines,  extended  downward  verti- 
cally, and  refer  all  disputes  to  the  old-fashioned  and 
familiar  machinery  of  the  General  Land  Office. 
This  system  gave  order  and  peace  to  the  great  lead 
and  copper  regions  of  the  Northwest,  and  it  would 
bring  with  it  the  same  inestimable  blessings  to  the 
harrassed  and  sorely  tried  regions  of  the  Pacific 
slope. 

About  the  same  time  the  action  of  Congress  sup- 
plied another  example  of  hasty  and  slip-shod  legis- 
lation, which  has  been  perhaps  equally  prolific  of  evil. 
The  State  of  California,  soon  after  her  admission, 
had  assumed  the  right  to  dispose  of  the  public 
lands  within  her  borders  according  to  her  own  pe- 
culiar wishes,  and  in  disregard  of  the  authority  of 
the  United  States.  This  led  to  such  serious  con- 
flicts and  complications,  that  a  remedy  was  sought 
in  a  bill  to  quiet  land  titles  in  that  State.  It  was  a 
very  questionable  measure,  inasmuch  as  the  parties 
claiming  title  under  the  State  could  only  be  re- 
lieved by  recognizing  her  illegal  acts  as  valid,  and 
at  the  expense  of  claimants  under  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  It  necessarily  involved  the  right  of 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  299 

pre-emption,  and  this  was  distinctly  presented  in  con- 
nection with  what  was  known  as  the  Suscol  Ranch 
in  that  State.  It  contained  about  ninety  thousand 
acres,  and  was  covered  by  an  old  Spanish  grant 
which  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the 
year  1862  had  pronounced  void,  soon  after  which 
numerous  settlers  went  upon  tlxe  land  as  pre-empt- 
ors,  as  they  had  the  right  to  do.  Their  claims  as 
such,  being  disputed  by  parties  asserting  title  under 
the  void  grant,  the  General  Land  Office,  on  the  refer- 
ence of  the  question  to  that  department,  decided  in 
favor  of  the  pre-emptors,  upon  which  the  opposing 
parties  procured  the  submission  of  the  question  to 
the  Attorney  General.  That  officer  gave  his  opinion 
to  the  effect  that  a  settler  under  the  pre-emption 
laws  acquires  no  vested  interest  in  the  land  he 
occupies  by  virtue  of  his  settlement,  and  can  ac- 
quire no  such  interest,  till  he  has  taken  «//the  legal 
steps  necessary  tf>  perfect  an  entrance  in  the  Land 
Office,  being,  in  the  meantime,  a  mere  tenant-at-will, 
who  may  be  ejected  by  the  Government  at  any 
moment  in  favor  of  another  party.  In  pursuance 
of  this  opinion  scores  of  bona  fide  settlers  were 
driven  from  their  pre-emptions,  which  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  had  offered  them,  on  certain  pre- 
scribed conditions,  with  which  they  were  willing 
and  anxious  to  comply,  and  their  homes,  with  the 
valuable  improvements  made  upon  them  in  good 
faith,  were  handed  over  to  speculators  and  monop- 
olists. The  proceeding  was  as  outrageous  as  the 


300  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

ruling  which  authorized  it  was  surprising  to  the 
whole  country ;  and  it  naturally  awakened  uneasi- 
ness and  alarm  among  our  pioneer  settlers  every 
where.  It  seemed  to  me  very  proper,  therefore, 
that  in  a  bill  to  quiet  land  titles  in  California,  these 
troubles  on  this  Ranch  should  be  settled  by  a  fit- 
ting amendment,  which  should  protect  the  rights  of 
these  pre-emptors  against  the  effect  of  the  ruling 
referred  to.  The  opinion  of  the  Attorney  General 
had  completely  overturned  the  whole  policy  of  the 
Government  as  popularly  understood,  and  I  simply 
proposed  to  restore  it  by  a  proviso  guarding  the 
rights  of  bona  fide  settlers  who  were  claiming  title 
under  the  laws  of  the  United  States ;  but  to  my 
perfect  amazement  I  found  the  California  delegation 
bitterly  opposed  to  this  amendment.  The  reading 
of  it  threw  them  into  a  spasm  of  rage,  and  showed 
that  they  were  less  anxious  to  quiet  titles  in  their 
State  than  to  serve  the  monopolies  and  rings  which 
had  trampled  on  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and 
thus  involved  themselves  in  trouble.  The  zeal  and 
industry  of  the  delegation  in  this  opposition  could 
only  be  paralleled  by  their  labors  for  the  passage  of 
their  mineral  land  bill ;  and  the  same  appeals  were 
made  in  both  cases.  They  said  this  was  a  "  local 
measure,"  and  that  they  understood  the  interests 
of  the  Pacific  coast  better  than  men  from  the  old 
States,  while  they  begged  and  button-holed  mem- 
bers with  a  pertinacity  very  rarely  witnessed  in  any 
legislative  body.  They  turned  the  business  of  log- 


MINERAL  LANDS— PRE-EMPTION.  301 

rolling  to  such  account  that  the  amendment  was 
defeated  by  a  strong  majority,  while  it  proved  the 
entering  wedge  to  other  and  greater  outrages  upon 
the  rights  of  settlers  which  the  country  has  since 
witnessed,  and  was  followed  by  a  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  fully  affirm- 
ing the  principle  laid  down  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Attorney  General.  This  ruling,  which  has  been 
aptly  styled  "  the  Dred  Scott  decision  of  the 
American  Pioneer,"  has  been  repeatedly  re-affirmed, 
while  the  claim  of  pre-emption,  once  universally 
regarded  as  a  substantial  right,  has  faded  away 
into  a  glamour  or  myth. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

RECONSTRUCTION    AND    IMPEACHMENT. 

Gov.  Morton  and  his  scheme  of  Gerrymandering — The  X I V 
Amendment — Hasty  reconstruction  and  the  Territorial  plan — 
The  Military  Bill — Impeachment — An  amusing  incident- 
Vote  against  impeachment — The  vote  reversed — The  popular 
feeling  against  the  President — The  trial — Republican  intol- 
erance— Injustice  to  senators  and  to  Chief  Justice  Chase — 
Nomination  of  Gen.  Grant — Re-nomination  for  Congress — 
Personal — Squabble  of  place-hunters — XVI  Amendment. 

THE  fall  elections  of  this  year  were  complicated 
by  the  hostile  influence  of  the  Executive,  but  the 
popular  current  was  strongly  on  the  side  of  Con- 
gress. A  few  prominent  Republican  members 
followed  the  President,  but  the  great  body  of  them 
stood  firm.  In  my  own  Congressional  district  my 
majority  was  over  6,200,  notwithstanding  the 
formidable  conservative  opposition  in  my  own 
party,  and  its  extraordinary  efforts  to  divide  the 
Republicans  through  the  patronage  of  the  Admin- 
istration. Nearly  all  of  my  old  opponents  in  the 
district  and  State  were  now  Johnsonized,  except 
Gov.  Morton,  whose  temporary  desertion  the  year 
before  was  atoned  for  by  a  prudent  and  timely  re- 
pentance. He  was  not,  however,  thoroughly 
(302) 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.    303 

reconstructed;  for  in  the  Philadelphia  Loyal 
Convention  which  met  in  September  of  this  year 
to  consider  the  critical  state  of  the  country,  he  used 
his  influence  with  the  delegates  from  the  South  to 
prevent  their  espousal  of  Negro  Suffrage,  and 
begged  Theodore  Tilton  to  prevail  on  Frederick 
Douglass  to  take  the  first  train  of  cars  for  home,  in 
order  to  save  the  Republican  party  from  detri- 
ment He  was  still  under  the  shadow  of  his  early 
Democratic  training ;  and  he  and  his  satellites, 
vividly  remembering  my  campaign  for  Negro  Suf- 
frage the  year  before,  and  finding  me  thoroughly 
intrenched  in  my  Congressional  district,  hit  upon 
a  new  project  for  my  political  discomfiture.  This 
was  the  re-districting  of  the  State  at  the  ensuing 
session  of  the  Indiana  Legislature,  which  they 
succeeded  in  accomplishing  by  disguising  their  real 
purpose.  There  was  neither  reason  nor  excuse  for 
such  a  scheme  at  this  time,  apart  from  my  polit- 
ical fortunes ;  and  by  the  most  shameless  Gerry- 
mandering three  counties  of  my  district,  which 
gave  me  a  majority  of  5,000,  were  taken  from  me, 
and  four  others  added  in  which  I  was  personally 
but  little  acquainted,  and  which  gave  an  aggre- 
gate Democratic  majority  of  about  1,500.  This 
was  preliminary  to  the  next  Congressional  race,  and 
the  success  of  the  enterprise  remained  to  be  tested; 
but  it  furnished  a  curious  illustration  of  the  state 
of  Indiana  Republicanism  at  that  time. 

On  the  meeting  of  Congress  in  December  the 


304  1T1CAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

signs  of  political  progress  since  the  adjournment 
were  quite  noticeable.  The  subject  of  impeachment 
began  to  be  talked  about,  and  both  houses  seemed 
ready  for  all  necessary  measures.  Since  mingling 
freely  with  their  constituents,  very  few  Republican 
members  insisted  that  the  XIV  Constitutional 
Amendment  should  be  accepted  as  a  finality,  or  as 
an  adequate  solution  of  the  problem  of  reconstruc- 
tion. The  second  section  of  that  amendment,  pro- 
posing to  abandon  the  colored  race  in  the  South 
on  condition  that  they  should  not  be  counted  in 
the  basis  of  representation,  was  now  generally  con- 
demned, and  if  the  question  had  been  a  new  one  it 
could  not  have  been  adopted.  This  enlightenment 
of  Northern  representatives  was  largely  due  to  the 
prompt  and  contemptuous  rejection  by  the  rebell- 
ious States  of  the  XIV  Amendment  as  a  scheme  of 
reconstruction,  and  their  enactment  of  black  codes 
which  made  the  condition  of  the  freedmen  more  de- 
plorable than  slavery  itself.  In  this  instance,  as  in 
that  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Proclamation  of  Emancipa- 
tion, it  was  rebel  desperation  which  saved  the  negro  ; 
for  if  the  XIV  Amendment  had  been  at  first  accept- 
ed, the  work  of  reconstruction  would  have  ended 
without  conferring  upon  him  the  ballot.  This  will 
scarcely  be  denied  by  any  one,  and  has  been  frankly 
admitted  by  some  of  the  most  distinguished  lead- 
ers of  the  party. 

The  policy  of  treating  these  States  as  Territories 
seemed  now  to  be  rapidly  gaining  ground,  and  com- 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.     305 

mended  itself  as  the  only  logical  way  out  of  the 
political  dilemma  in  which  the  Government  was 
placed.  But  here  again  the  old  strife  between 
radicalism  and  conservatism  cropped  out.  The 
former  opposed  all  haste  in  the  work  of  reconstruc- 
tion. It  insisted  that  what  the  rebellious  districts 
needed  was  not  an  easy  and  speedy  return  to  the 
places  they  had  lost  by  their  treasonable  conspiracy, 
but  a  probationary  training,  looking  to  their  res- 
toration when  they  should  prove  their  fitness  for 
civil  government  as  independent  States.  It  was  in- 
sisted that  they  were  not  prepared  for  this,  and  that 
with  their  large  population  of  ignorant  negroes  and 
equally  ignorant  whites,  dominated  by  a  formidable 
oligarchy  of  educated  land-owners  who  despised 
the  power  that  had  conquered  them,  while  they 
still  had  the  sympathy  of  their  old  allies  in  the 
North,  the  withdrawal  of  Federal  intervention  and 
the  unhindered  operation  of  local  supremacy  would 
as  fatally  hedge  up  the  way  of  justice  and  equal- 
ity as  the  rebel  despotisms  then  existing.  The 
political  and  social  forces  of  Southern  society,  if  un- 
checked from  without,  were  sure  to  assert  them- 
selves, and  the  more  decided  anti-slavery  men  in 
both  houses  of  Congress  so  warned  the  country,  and 
foretold  that  no  theories  of  Democracy  could  avail 
unless  adequately  supported  by  a  healthy  and  in- 
telligent public  opinion.  They  saw  that  States  must 
grow,  and  could  not  be  suddenly  constructed  where 
the  materials  were  wanting,  and  that  forms  are 
20 


306  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

worthless  in  the  hands  of  an  ignorant  mob.  It  was 
objected  to  the  territorial  theory  that  it  was  arbi- 
trary, and  would  lead  to  corruption  and  tyranny 
like  the  pro-consular  system  of  Rome  ;  but  it  was 
simply  the  territorial  system  to  which  we  had  been 
accustomed  from  the  beginning  of  the  Government, 
and  could  not  prove  worse  than  the  hasty  re-admis- 
sion of  ten  conquered  districts  to  the  dignity  of 
States  of  the  Union,  involving,  as  it  has  done,  the 
horrors  of  carpet-bag  government,  Ku  Klux  out- 
rages, and  a  system  of  pro-consular  tyranny  as  in- 
consistent with  the  rights  of  these  States  as  it  has 
been  disgraceful  to  the  very  idea  of  free  government 
and  fatal  to  the  best  interests  of  the  colored  race. 

But  the  strange  chaos  of  opinion  which  now  pre- 
vailed was  unfavorable  to  sound  thinking  or  wise 
acting.  Great  and  far-reaching  interests  were  at 
stake,  but  they  were  made  the  sport  of  politicians, 
and  disposed  of  in  the  light  of  their  supposed 
effect  upon  the  ascendancy  of  the  Republican 
party.  Statesmanship  was  sacrificed  to  party  man- 
agement, and  the  final  result  was  that  the  various 
territorial  bills  which  had  been  introduced  in  both 
Houses,  and  the  somewhat  incongruous  bills  of 
Stevens  and  Ashley,  were  all  superseded  by  the 
passage  of  the  "  Military  bill,"  which  was  vetoed 
by  the  President,  but  re-enacted  in  the  face  of  his 
objections.  This  bill  was  utterly  indefensible  on 
principle.  It  was  completely  at  war  with  the 
genius  and  spirit  of  democratic  government.  In- 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.    307 

stead  of  furnishing  the  Rebel  districts  with  civil 
governments,  and  providing  for  a  military  force 
adequate  to  sustain  them,  it  abolished  civil  govern- 
ment entirely,  and  installed  the  army  in  its  place. 
It  was  a  confession  of  Congressional  incompetence 
to  deal  with  a  problem  which  Congress  alone  had 
the  right  to  solve.  Its  provisions  perfectly  ex- 
posed it  to  all  the  objections  which  could  be  urged 
to  the  plan  of  territorial  reconstruction,  while  they 
inaugurated  a  centralized  military  despotism  in  the 
place  of  that  system  of  well-understood  local  self- 
government  which  the  territorial  policy  offered  as 
a  preparation  for  restoration.  The  measure  was 
analyzed  and  exposed  with  great  ability  by  Henry 
J.  Raymond,  whose  arguments  were  unanswered 
and  unanswerable ;  but  nothing  could  stay  the  pre- 
vailing impatience  of  Congress  for  speedy  legisla- 
tion looking  to  the  early  return  of  the  rebel 
districts  to  their  places  in  the  Union.  The  bill 
was  a  legislative  solecism.  It  did  not  abrogate 
the  existing  Rebel  State  governments.  It  left  the 
ballot  in  the  hands  of  white  Rebels,  and  did  not 
confer  it  upon  the  black  loyalists.  It  sought  to 
conciliate  the  power  it  was  endeavoring  to  coerce. 
It  provided  for  negro  suffrage  as  one  of  the  funda- 
mental conditions  on  which  the  rebellious  States 
should  be  restored  to  their  places  in  the  Union,  but 
left  the  negro  to  the  mercy- of  their  black  codes, 
pending  the  decision  of  the  question  of  their  ac- 
ceptance of  the  proposed  conditions  of  restoration. 


;    ^  /V/. /7YCY/Z  RECOLLECTIONS. 


The  freedmen  were  completely  in  the  power  of 
their  old  masters,  so  long  as  the  latter  might  refuse 
the  terms  of  reconstruction  that  were  offered  ;  and 
they  had  the  option  to  refuse  them  entirely,  if  they 
saw  fit  to  prefer  their  own  in  ul  ascend.mcy  ami  its 
train  of  disorders  to  compulsory  restoration.  This 
perfectly  inexcusable  abandonment  of  negro  suf- 
frage \\MS  zealously  defended  by  a  small  body  of 
conservative  Republicans  who  were  still  lingering 
in  the  sunshine  of  executive  favor,  and  of  whom 
Mr.  Blaine  was  the  chief;  and  it  was  through  the 
timely  action  of  Mr.  Shellabarger,  of  Ohio,  which 
these  conservatives  opposed,  that  the  scheme  of 
reconstruction  was  finally  so  amended  as  to  make 
the  Rebel  State  governments  provisional  only,  and 
secure  the  ballot  to  the  negro  during  the  period, 
whether  long  or  short,  which  might  intervene 
prior  to  the  work  of  re-admission.  This  provision 
was  absolutely  vital,  because  it  took  from  the  people 
of  the  insurrectionary  districts  every  motive  for 
refusing  the  acceptance  of  the  terms  proposed, 
and  settled  the  work  of  reconstruction  by  this 
exercise  of  absolute  power  by  their  conquerors. 
It  was  this  provision  which  secured  the  support 
of  the  Radical  Republicans  in  Congress ;  but  it 
did  not  meet  their  objections  to  this  scheme  of 
hasty  military  reconstruction,  while  these  objec- 
tions have  been  amply  justified  by  time. 

Thaddeus  Stevens  never  appeared  to  such  splen- 
did advantage  as  a  parliamentary  leader  as  in  this 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.    309 

protracted  debate  on  reconstruction.  He  was  then 
nearly  seventy-six,  and  was  physically  so  feeble 
that  he  could  scarcely  stand;  but  his  intellectual 
resources  seemed  to  be  perfectly  unimpaired. 
Eloquence,  irony,  wit,  and  invective,  were  charm- 
ingly blended  in  the  defense  of  his  positions  and 
his  attacks  upon  his  opponents.  In  dealing  with 
the  views  of  Bingham,  Elaine,  and  Banks,  he  was 
by  no  means  complimentary.  He  referred  to  them 
in  his  closing  speech  on  the  bill,  on  the  thirteenth 
of  February,  when  he  said,  in  response  to  an  inter- 
ruption by  Mr.  Blaine,  "  What  I  am  speaking  of  is 
this  proposed  step  toward  universal  amnesty  and 
universaPAndy-Johnsonism.  If  this  Congress  so 
decides,  it  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  join  in  the 
iotriumphe  of  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  in  leading 
this  House,  possibly  by  forbidden  paths,  into  the 
sheep-fold  or  the  goat-fold  of  the  President."  In 
speaking  of  the  amendment  to  the  bill  offered  by 
General  Banks,  he  said,  "  It  proposes  to  set  up  a 
contrivance  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  by 
hydraulic  action  to  control  all  the  States  that  are 
washed  by  the  waters  of  that  great  stream."  He 
declared  that,  "  The  amendment  of  the  gentleman 
from  Maine  lets  in  a  vast  number  of  Rebels,  and 
shuts  out  nobody.  All  I  ask  is  that  when  the 
House  comes  to  vote  upon  that  amendment,  it  shall 
understand  that  the  adoption  of  it  would  be  an  en- 
tire surrender  of  those  States  into  the  hands  of  the 
Rebels.  *  *  If,  sir,  I  might  presume  upon 


310  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


my  age,  without  claiming  any  of  the  wisdom  of 
Nestor,  I  would  suggest  to  the  young  gentlemen 
around  me,  that  the  deeds  of  this  burning  crisis, 
of  this  solemn  day,  of  this  thrilling  moment,  will 
cast  their  shadows  far  into  the  future,  and  will 
make  their  impress  upon  the  annals  of  our  history; 
and  that  we  shall  appear  upon  the  bright  pages  of 
that  history  just  in  so  far  as  we  cordially,  without 
guile,  without  bickering,  without  small  criticisms, 
lend  our  aid  to  promote  the  great  cause  of  human- 
ity and  universal  liberty." 

As  a  precautionary  measure  against  executive 
usurpation,  the  Fortieth  Congress  was  organized 
in  March,  1867,  immediately  after  the  adjournment 
of  the  Thirty-ninth.  After  a  brief  sesston  it  ad- 
journed till  the  third  of  July,  to  await  the  further 
progress  of  events.  On  re-assembling  I  found  the 
feeling  in  favor  of  impeachment  had  considerably 
increased,  but  was  not  yet  strong  enough  to  pre- 
vail. All  that  could  be  done  was  the  passage  of  a 
supplemental  act  on  the  subject  of  reconstruction, 
which  naturally  provoked  another  veto,  in  which 
the  President  re-affirmed  the  points  of  his  message 
vetoing  the  original  bill,  and  arraigned  the  action 
of  Congress  as  high-handed  and  despotic.  The 
message  was  construed  by  the  Republicans  as  an 
open  defiance,  and  many  of  them  felt  that  a  great 
duty  had  been  slighted  in  failing  to  impeach  him 
months  before.  The  feeling  against  him  became 
perfectly  relentless,  as  I  distinctly  remember  it,  and 


RE CONSTR  UCTION  AND  IMPEA  CHMENT.    3 1 1 


shared  in  it  myself;  but  on  referring  to  the  message 
now,  I  am  astonished  at  the  comparative  modera- 
tion of  its  tone,  and  the  strength  of  its  positions. 
Its  logic,  in  the  main,  is  impregnable,  if  it  be 
granted  that  the  Rebel  districts  were  not  only 
States,  but  States  in  the  Union,  and  the  Congress 
which  was  now  so  enraged  at  the  President  had 
itself  refused  to  deal  with  them  as  Territories  or 
outlying  provinces,  and  thereby  invited  the  aggra- 
vating thrusts  of  the  message  at  the  consistency  of 
his  assailants. 

Just  before  the  adjournment  of  this  brief  ses- 
sion of  Congress,  an  amusing  incident  occurred  in 
connection  with  the  introduction  of  the  following 
resolution  in  the  House: 

"Resolved,  That  the  doctrines  avowed  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  message  to 
Congress  of  the  fifteenth  instant,  to  the  effect  that 
the  abrogation  of  the  governments  of  the  Rebel 
States  binds  the  Nation  to  pay  the  debts  incurred 
prior  to  the  late  Rebellion,  is  at  war  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  international  law,  a  deliberate  stab  at  the 
national  credit,  abhorrent  to  every  sentiment  of 
loyalty,  and  well-pleasing  only  to  the  vanquished 
traitors  by  whose  agency  alone  the  governments 
of  said  States  were  overthrown  and  destroyed." 

The  resolution  was  adopted  by  yeas  one  hun- 
dred, nays  eighteen,  and  the  announcement  of  the 
vote  provoked  the  laughter  of  both  sides  of  the 
House.  It  gratified  the  Republicans,  because  it 


312  /'<>/.///(.//   RECOLLEC1, 


was  a  thrust  .it  Andrew  Johnson,  and  perfectly  ac- 
corded with  their  prevailing  political  mood,  which 
was  constantly  becoming  more  embittered  toward 
him.  It  equally  gratified  the  Democrats,  because 
they  at  once  accepted  it  as  a  telling  shot  at  Gov. 
Morton,  who  had  fathered  the  condemned  heresy 
nearly  two  years  before  in  his  famous  Richmond 
speech,  which  he  and  his  friends  had  been  doing 
their  best  to  forget.  Party  feeling  had  never  be- 
fore been  more  intense;  but  this  resolution  per- 
formed its  mediatorial  office  with  such  magical 
effect  in  playing  with  two  utterly  diverse  party 
animosities,  that  Republicans  and  Democrats  were 
alike  surprised  to  find  themselves  suddenly  stand- 
ing on  common  ground,  and  joyfully  shaking 
hands  in  token  of  this  remarkable  display  of  their 
good  fellowship. 

Congress  assembled  again  on  the  twenty-first  of 
November,  in  consequence  of  the  extraordinary 
conduct  of  the  President.  The  popular  feeling  in 
favor  of  impeachment  had  now  become  formidable, 
and  on  the  twenty-fifth  the  Judiciary  Committee  of 
the  House  finally  reported  in  favor  of  the  measure. 
The  galleries  were  packed,  and  the  scene  was  one 
of  great  interest,  while  all  the  indications  seemed 
to  point  to  success;  but  on  the  seventh  of  Decem 
ber,  the  proposition  was  voted  down  by  yeas  fifty- 
seven,  nays  one  hundred  and  eight.  The  vote  was 
a  great  surprise  and  disappointment  to  the  friends 
of  impeachment,  and  was  construed  by  them  as  a 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.    313 

wanton  surrender  by  Congress,  and  the  prelude  to 
new  acts  of  executive  lawlessness.  These  acts 
continued  to  be  multiplied,  and  the  removal  of 
Secretary  Stanton  finally  so  prepared  the  way 
that  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  February,  1868,  the 
House,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
to  forty-seven,  declared  in  favor  of  impeachment. 
The  crowds  in  the  galleries,  in  the  lobbies,  and 
on  the  floor  were  unprecedented,  and  the  excite- 
ment at  high  tide.  The  fifty- seven  who  had  voted 
for  impeachment  in  December,  were  now  happy. 
They  felt,  at  last,  that  the  country  was  safe.  The 
whole  land  seemed  to  be  electrified,  as  they  be- 
lieved it  would'  have  been  at  any  previous  time  if 
the  House  had  had  the  nerve  to  go  forward ;  and 
they  rejoiced  that  the  madness  of  Johnson  had  at 
last  compelled  Congress  to  face  the  great  duty.  A 
committee  of  seven  was  appointed  by  the  Speaker 
to  prepare  articles  of  impeachment,  of  whom 
Thaddeus  Stevens  was  chairman.  He  was  now 
rapidly  failing  in  strength,  and  every  morning  had 
to  be  carried  up  stairs  to  his  seat  in  the  House ; 
but  his  humor  never  failed  him,  and  on  one  of  these 
occasions  he  said  to  the  young  men  who  had  him 
in  charge,  "  I  wonder,  boys,  who  will  carry  me 
when  you  are  dead  and  gone."  He  was  very  thin, 
pale  and  haggard.  His  eye  was  bright,  but  his 
face  was  "  scarred  by  the  crooked  autograph  of  pain." 
He  was  a  constant  sufferer,  and  during  the  sessions 
of  the  Committee  kept  himself  stimulated  by  sipping 


314  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIOtfS. 

a  little  wine  or  brandy;  but  he  was  its  ruling 
spirit,  and  greatly  speeded  its  work  by  the  clearness 
of  his  perceptions  and  the  strength  of  his  will.  His 
mental  force  seemed  to  defy  the  power  of  disease. 
The  articles  of  impeachment  were  ready  for  sub- 
mission in  a  few  days,  and  adopted  by  the  House, 
on  the  second  of  March,  by  a  majority  of  consider- 
ably more  than  two  thirds,  when  the  case  was 
transferred  to  the  Senate. 

The  popular  feeling  against  the  President  was 
now  rapidly  nearing  its  climax  and  becoming  a 
sort  of  frenzy.  Andrew  Johnson  was  no  longer 
merely  a  "  wrong-headed  and  obstinate  man,"  but 
a  "  genius  in  depravity,"  whose  hoarded  malignity 
and  passion  were  unfathomable.  He  was  not  simply 
"  an  irresolute  mule,"  as  General  Schenck  had  styled 
him,  but  was  devil-bent  upon  the  ruin  of  his  coun- 
try; and  his  trial  connected  itself  with  all  the  mem- 
ories of  the  war,  and  involved  the  Nation  in  a  new 
and  final  struggle  for  its  life.  Even  so  sober  and 
unimaginative  a  man  as  Mr.  Boutwell,  one  of  the 
managers  of  the  impeachment  in  the  Senate,  lost  his 
wits  and  completely  surrendered  himself  to  the 
passions  of  the  hour  in  the  following  passage  of  his 
speech  in  that  body : 

"  Travelers  and  astronomers  inform  us  that  in  the 
Southern  heavens,  near  the  Southern  Cross,  there 
is  a  vast  space  which  the  uneducated  call  the  '  hole 
in  the  sky,'  where  the  eye  of  man,  with  the  aid  of 
the  powers  of  the  telescope,  has  been  unable  to  dis- 


RECONSTR UCTION  AND  IMPEA CHMENT.    3 1 5 

cover  nebulae,  or  asteroid,  or  comet,  or  planet,  or 
star  or  sun.  In  that  dreary,  cold,  dark  region  of 
space,  which  is  only  known  to  be  less  than  infinite 
by  the  evidences  of  creation  elsewhere,  the  great 
Author  of  celestial  mechanism  has  left  the  chaos 
which  was  in  the  beginning.  If  this  earth  were 
capable  of  the  sentiments  and  emotions  of  justice 
and  virtue,  which  in  human  mortal  beings  are  the 
evidences  and  the  pledge  of  our  divine  origin  and 
immortal  destiny,  it  would  heave  and  throe  with 
the  energy  of  the  elemental  forces  of  nature, 
and  project  this  enemy  of  two  races  of  men  into 
that  vast  region,  there  forever  to  exist,  in  a  soli- 
tude eternal  as  life,  or  as  the  absence  of  life, 
emblematical  of,  if  not  really,  that  'outer  dark- 
ness '  of  which  the  Savior  of  man  spoke  in  warning 
to  those  who  are  the  enemies  of  themselves,  of 
their  race,  and  of  their  God." 

This  fearful  discharge  of  rhetorical  fireworks  at 
the  President  fitly  voiced  the  general  sentiment  of 
the  Republicans.  Party  madness  was  in  the  air, 
and  quite  naturally  gave  birth  to  the  "  hole  in  the 
sky  "  in  the  agony  of  its  effort  to  find  expression. 
No  extravagance  of  speech  or  explosion  of  wrath 
was  deemed  out  of  order  during  this  strange  dis- 
pensation in  our  politics. 

The  trial  proceeded  with  unabated  interest,  and 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  eleventh  of  May  the  excite- 
ment reached  its  highest  point.  Reports  came 
from  the  Senate,  then  in  secret  session,  that  Grimes, 


316  rol.lTlCAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Fcssctiden  and  Henderson  were  certainly  for  ac- 
quittal, and  that  other  senators  were  to  follow 
them.  An  indescribable  gloom  now  prevailed 
among  the  friends  of  impeachment,  which  incrc 
during  the  afternoon,  and  at  night  when  the  Senate 
was  again  in  session.  At  the  adjournment  there- 
was  some  hope  of  conviction,  but  it  was  generally 
considered  very  doubtful.  On  meeting  my  old 
anti-slavery  friend,  Dr.  Brisbane,  he  told  me  he 
felt  as  if  he  were  sitting  up  with  a  sick  friend  who 
w.is  expected  to  die.  His  face  was  the  picture  of 
despair.  To  such  men  it  seemed  that  all  the  trials 
of  the  war  were  merged  in  this  grand  issue,  and 
that  it  involved  the  existence  of  Free  Government 
on  this  continent.  The  final  vote  was  postponed 
till  the  sixteenth,  owing  to  Senator  Howard's  ill- 
ness, and  on  the  morning  of  that  day  the  friends 
of  impeachment  felt  more  confident.  The  vote 
was  first  taken  on  the  eleventh  article.  The  gal- 
leries were  packed,  and  an  indescribable  anxiety 
was  written  on  every  face.  Some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House  near  me  grew  pale  and  sick 
under  the  burden  of  suspense.  Such  stillness 
prevailed  that  the  breathing  in  the  galleries  could 
be  heard  at  the  announcement  of  each  senator's 
vote.  This  was  quite  noticeable  when  any  of  the 
doubtful  senators  voted,  the  people  holding  their 
breath  as  the  words  "  guilty"  or  "  not  guilty  "  were 
pronounced,  and  then  giving  it  simultaneous  vent. 
Every  heart  throbbed  more  anxiously  as  the  name 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.    317- 

of  Senator  Fowler  was  reached,  and  the  Chief 
Justice  propounded  to  him  the  prescribed  ques- 
tion :  "  How  say  you,  is  the  respondent,  Andrew 
Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States,  guilty  or 
not  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor,  as  charged  in 
this  article  of  impeachment  ?"  The  senator,  in  evi- 
dent excitement,  inadvertently  answered  "  guilty," 
and  thus  lent  a  momentary  relief  to  the  friends  of 
impeachment;  but  this  was  immediately  dissipated 
by  correcting  his  vote  on  the  statement  of  the  Chief 
Justice  that  he  did  not  understand  the  senator's 
response  to  the  question.  Nearly  all  hope  of  con- 
viction fled  when  Senator  Ross,  of  Kansas,  voted 
"  not  guilty,"  and  a  long  breathing  of  disappoint- 
ment and  despair  followed  the  like  vote  of  Van 
Winkle,  which  settled  the  case  in  favor  of  the 
President. 

It  is  impossible  now  to  realize  how  perfectly  over- 
mastering was  the  excitement  of  these  days.  The 
exercise  of  calm  judgment  was  simply  out  of  the 
question.  As  I  have  already  stated,  passion  ruled 
the  hour,  and  constantly  strengthened  the  tendency 
to  one-sidedness  and  exaggeration.  The  attempt  to 
impeach  the  President  was  undoubtedly  inspired, 
mainly,  by  patriotic  motives  ;  but  the  spirit  of  intol- 
erance among  Republicans  toward  those  who 
differed  with  them  in  opinion  set  all  moderation  and 
common  sense  at  defiance.  Patriotism  and  party 
animosity  were  so  inextricably  mingled  and  con- 
founded that  the  real  merits  of  the  controversy 


318  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

could  only  be  seen  after  the  heat  and  turmoil  of  the 
strife  had  passed  away.  Time  has  made  this  mani- 
fest. Andrew  Johnson  was  not  the  Devil-incarnate 
he  was  then  painted,  nor  did  he  monopolize,  en- 
tirely, the  "  wrong-headedness  "  of  the  times.  No 
one  will  now  dispute  that  the  popular  estimate  of 
his  character  did  him  very  great  injustice.  It  is 
equally  certain  that  great  injustice  was  done  to 
Trumbull,  Fessenden,  Grimes  and  other  senators 
who  voted  to  acquit  the  President,  and  gave  proof 
of  their  honesty  and  independence  by  facing  the 
wrath  and  scorn  of  the  party  with  which  they  had 
so  long  been  identified.  The  idea  of  making  the 
question  of  impeachment  a  matter  of  party  disci- 
pline was  utterly  indefensible  and  preposterous. 
*•  Those  senators,"  as  Horace  Greeley  declared, 
"  were  sublimely  in  the  right  who  maintained  their 
independent  judgment — whether  it  was  corrector 
erroneous,  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  and  who  indig- 
nantly refused  all  attempts  to  swerve  them  from 
their  duty  as  they  had  undertaken  to  perform  it  by 
solemn  oaths."  The  Chief  Justice  was  also  cruelly 
and  inexcusably  wronged  by  imputing  corrupt  mo- 
tives to  his  official  action.  His  integrity  and  courage 
had  been  amply  demonstrated  through  many  long 
years  qf  thorough  and  severe  trial ;  and  yet  many 
of  his  Republican  friends,  both  in  the  Senate  and 
House,  who  had  known  him  throughout  his  polit- 
ical career,  denounced  him  as  an  apostate  and  a 
traitor,  and  even  denied  him  all  social  recognition. 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.    319 

Senator  Howe,  of  Wisconsin,  was  especially  abusive, 
and  made  himself  perfectly  ridiculous  by  the  ex- 
travagance and  malignity  of  his  assaults.  The 
judicial  spirit  was  everywhere  wanting,  and  the 
elevation  of  Senator  Wade  to  the  Presidency  in  the 
midst  of  so  much  passion  and  tumult,  and  with  the 
peculiar  political  surroundings  which  the  event  fore- 
shadowed, would  have  been,  to  say  the  least,  a  very 
questionable  experiment  for  the  country. 

The  excitement  attending  the  trial  of  the  Presi- 
dent soon  subsided,  but  the  Republicans  continued 
anxious  about  the  state  of  the  country.  The  work 
of  reconstruction  was  only  fairly  begun,  and  its 
completion  was  involved  in  the  approaching  presi- 
dential election.  Chase  and  Seward  had  lost  their 
standing  in  the  party,  and  there  was  no  longer  any 
civilian  in  its  ranks  whose  popularity  was  especially 
commanding  or  at  all  over-shadowing.  Under 
these  circumstances  it  was  quite  natural  to  turn  to 
the  army,  and  to  canvass  the  claims  of  Gen.  Grant. 
The  idea  of  his  nomination  was  exceedingly  dis- 
tasteful to  me.  I  personally  knew  him  to  be  in- 
temperate. In  politics  he  was  a  Democrat.  He  did 
not  profess  to  be  a  Republican,  and  the  only  vote 
he  had  ever  given  was  cast  for  James  Buchanan  in 
1856,  when  the  Republican  party  made  its  first 
grand  struggle  to  rescue  the  Government  from  the 
clutches  of  slavery.  Moreover,  he  had  had  no 
training  whatever  in  civil  administration,  and  no  one 
thought  of  him  as  a  statesman.  But  the  plea  of  his 


320  POLITICAL  KECOLLJ .1  V/o.V.s. 


availability  as  a  military  chieftain  was  urged  with 
great  effect,  and  was  made  irresistible  by  the  appre- 
hension that  if  not  nominated  by  the  Republicans 
the  Democrats  would  appropriate  him,  and  make 
him  a  formidable  instrument  of  mischief.  1 1  is  nom- 
ination, however,  was  only  secured  by  cautious  and 
timely  diplomacy,  and  potent  appeals  to  his  sordid- 
ness,  in  the  shape  of  assurances  that  he  should  have 
the  office  for  a  second  term.  Hut  as  the  nominee 
of  his  party,  fairly  committed  to  its, principles  and 
measures  touching  the  unsettled  questions  of  re- 
construction and  suffrage,  I  saw  no  other  practica- 
ble alternative  than  to  give  him  my  support.  I 
was  still  further  reconciled  to  this  by  the  action  of 
the  Democrats  in  the  nomination  of  Seymour  ami 
Blair,  and  the  avowal  of  the  latter  in  his  famous 
"  Broadhead  letter,"  that  "  we  must  have  a  Presi- 
dent who  will  execute  the  will  of  the  people  by 
trampling  in  the  dust  the  usurpations  of  Congress 
known  as  the  Reconstruction  Acts." 

In  my  new  Congressional  district  I  was  unani- 
mously re-nominated  by  the  Republicans,  and  en- 
tered at  once  upon  the  canvass,  though  scarcely 
well  enough  to  leave  my  bed.  The  issue  was  doubt  • 
ful,  and  my  old-time  enemies  put  forth  their  whole 
power  against  me  at  the  election.  They  were  de- 
termined, this  time,  to  win,  and  to  make  sure  of 
this  they  embarked  in  a  desperate  and  shameless 
scheme  of  ballot-stuffing  in  the  city  of  Richmond, 
which  was  afterward  fully  exposed;  but  in  spite  of 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.  321 

this  enterprise  of  "  Ku  Klux  Republicans,"  I  was 
elected  by  a  small  majority.  The  result,  however, 
foreshadowed  the  close  of  my  congressional  labors, 
which  followed  two  years  later,  just  as  the  XV  Con- 
stitutional Amendment  had  made  voters  of  the 
colored  men  of  the  State;  but  it  was  only  made 
possible  by  my  failing  health,  which  had  unfitted 
me  for  active  leadership.  In  my  old  district  I  had 
made  myself  absolutely  invincible.  For  twenty- 
one  years  in  succession,  that  is  to  say,  from  the 
year  1848  to  the  year  1868,  both  inclusive,  I  can- 
vassed that  district  by  townships  and  neighbor- 
hoods annually  on  the  stump.  In  the  beginning, 
public  opinion  was  overwhelmingly  and  fiercely 
against  me,  but  I  resolved,  at  whatever  cost,  to  re- 
construct it  in  conformity  with  my  own  earnest  con- 
victions. I  literally  wore  myself  out  in  the  work, 
and  am  perfectly  amazed  when  I  recall  the  amount 
of  it  I  performed,  and  the  complete  abandon  of  my- 
self to  the  task.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
this  struggle  the  politicians  of  the  district  were 
against  me,  and  they  were  numerous  and  formida- 
ble, and  in  every  contest  were  reinforced  by  the 
politicians  of  the  State.  Although  the  ranks  of  my 
supporters  were  constantly  recruited  and  no  man 
'ever  had  more  devoted  friends,  I  was  obliged, during 
all  these  years,  to  stand  alone  as  the  champion  of 
my  cause  in  debate.  I  believe  no  Congressional 
district  in  the  Union  was  ever  the  theatre  of  so 
much  hard  toil  by  a  single  raan  ;  but  although  it  in- 
21 


322  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

volvcd  the  serious  abridgement  of  health  and  life, 
the  ruinous  neglect  of  my  private  affairs,  and  the 
sacrifice  of  many  precious  friendships,  I  was  not 
without  my  reward.  I  succeeded  in  my  work. 
Step  by  step  I  saw  my  constituents  march  up  to 
my  position,  and  the  district  at  last  completely  dis- 
enthralled by  the  ceaseless  and  faithful  administra- 
tion of  anti-slavery  truth.  The  tables  were  com- 
pletely turned.  Almost  everybody  was  an  Abo- 
litionist, and  nobody  any  longer  made  a  business  of 
swearing  that  he  was  not.  In  canvassing  my  dis- 
trict it  became  the  regular  order  of  business  for  a 
caravan  of  candidates  for  minor  offices,  who  were 
sportively  called  the  "  side  show."  to  follow  me 
from  point  to  point,  all  vicing  with  each  other  as 
to  which  had  served  longest  and  most  faithfully  as 
my  friends.  They  had  always  been  opposed  to 
slavery,  and  men  who  had  taken  the  lead  in  mob- 
bing Abolitionists  in  earlier  days  and  gained  a  live- 
lihood by  slave-catching,  were  now  active  and 
zealous  leaders  in  the  Republican  party.  It  was  a 
marvelous  change.  Slavery  itself,  greatly  to  the 
surprise  and  delight  of  its  enemies,  had  perished; 
but  it  was,  after  all,  only  one  form  of  a  world-wide 
evil.  The  abolition  of  the  chattel  slavery  of  the 
Southern  negro  was  simply  the  introduction  and 
prelude  to  the  emancipation  of  all  races  from  all 
forms  of  servitude,  and  my  Congressional  record 
had  been  a  practical  illustration  of  my  faith  in  this 
truth.  The  rights  of  man  are  sacred,  whether 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT,    323 


trampled  down  by  Southern  slave-drivers,  the 
monopolists  of  the  soil,  the  grinding  power  of  cor- 
porate wealth,  the  legalized  robbery  of  a  protective 
tariff,  or  the  power  of  concentrated  capital  in  alli- 
ance with  labor-saving  machinery. 

During  the  winter  preceding  the  inauguration  of 
the  President  I  was  besieged  by  place-hunters  more 
than  ever  before.  They  thronged  about  me  con- 
stantly, while  I  generally  wrote  from  twenty  to 
thirty  letters  per  day  in  response  to  inquiries  about 
appointments  from  my  district.  The  squabbles  over 
post-office  appointments  were  by  far  the  most  vex- 
atious and  unmanageable.  They  were  singularly 
fierce,  and  I  found  it  wholly  impossible  to  avoid 
making  enemies  of  men  who  had  supported  me 
with  zeal.  I  was  tormented  for  months  about  the 
post-office  of  a  single  small  town  in  Franklin 
county,  where  the  rival  parties  pounced  upon  each 
other  like  cannibals,  and  divided  the  whole  com- 
munity into  two  hostile  camps.  I  was  obliged  to 
give  my  days  and  nights  to  this  wretched  business, 
and  often  received  only  curses  for  the  sincerest  en- 
deavors to  do  what  I  believed  was  right.  This 
experience  became  absolutely  sickening,  and  could 
not  be  otherwise  than  seriously  damaging  to  me 
politically.  Such  matters  were  wholly  foreign  to 
the  business  of  legislation,  and  I  wrote  a  very 
earnest  letter  to  Mr.  Jenckes,  of  Rhode  Island, 
heartily  commending  his  measure  proposed  in  the 
preceding  Congress  for  the  reform  of  our  Civil 


324  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Service,  and  for  which,  as  the  real  pioneer  of  this 
movement,  he  deserves  a  monument. 

It  was  on  the  eighth  of  December,  1868,  that  I 
submitted  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, declaring  that  "  the  right  of  suffrage  in  the 
United  States  shall  be  based  upon  citizenship,  and 
shall  be  regulated  by  Congress  " ;  and  that  "  all 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  whether  native  or 
naturalized,  shall  enjoy  this  right  equally,  without 
any  distinction  or  discrimination  whatever  founded 
on  race,  color,  or  sex.  This  was  prior  to  the 
ratification  of  the  XV  Amendment,  and  I  so  num- 
bered the  proposition;  but  on  further  reflection 
I  preferred  an  amendment  in  the  exact  form  of  the 
fifteenth,  and  early  in  the  next  Congress  I  submit- 
ted it,  being  the  first  proposition  offered  for  a  six- 
teenth amendment  to  the  Constitution.  My  opin- 
ions about  woman  suffrage,  however,  date  much 
farther  back.  The  subject  was  first  brought  to  my 
attention  in  a  brief  chapter  on  the  "political  non- 
existence  of  woman,"  in  Miss  Martineau's  book  on 
"  Society  in  America,"  which  I  read  in  1847.  She 
there  pithily  states  the  substance  of  all  that  has  since 
been  said  respecting  the  logic  of  woman's  right  to 
the  ballot,  and  finding  myself  unable  to  answer  it, 
I  accepted  it.  On  recently  referring  to  this  chap- 
ter I  find  myself  more  impressed  by  its  force  than 
when  I  first  read  it.  "  The  most  principled  Demo- 
cratic writers  on  Government,"  she  said,  "  have  on 
this  subject  sunk  into  fallacies  as  disgraceful  a 


RECONSTRUCTION  AND  IMPEACHMENT.    325 

any  advocate  of  despotism  has  adduced.  In  fact, 
they  have  thus  sunk,  from  being,  for  the  moment, 
advocates  of  despotism.  Jefferson  in  America,  and 
James  Mill  at  home,  subside,  for  the  occasion,  to 
the  level  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia's  catechism 
for  the  young  Poles."  This  she  makes  unanswer- 
ably clear ;  but  my  interest  in  the  slavery  question 
was  awakened  about  the  same  time.  I  regarded  it 
as  the  previous  question,  and  as  less  abstract  and 
far  more  immediately  important  and  absorbing 
than  that  of  suffrage  for  woman.  For  the  sake 
of  the  negro  I  accepted  Mr.  Lincoln's  philosophy 
of  "  one  war  at  a  time,"  though  always  ready  to 
show  my  hand  ;  but  when  this  was  fairly  out  of  the 
way,  I  was  prepared  to  enlist  actively  in  the  next 
grand  movement  in  behalf  of  the  sacredness  and 
equality  of  human  rights. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

GRANT  AND   GREF.I  I  V. 

The  new  Cabinet — Seeds  of  party  disaffection — Trip  to  California 
— Party  degeneracy — The  liberal  Republican  movement — Re- 
nomination  of  Grant — The  Cincinnati  convention — Perplexities 
of  the  situation — The  canvass  for  Greeley — Its  bitterness — Its 
peculiar  features — The  defeat — The  vindication  of  Liberals — 
Vi^it  to  Chase  and  Sumner — Death  of  Greeley. 

THE  inaugural  speech  of  Gen.  Grant  was  a  feeble 
performance,  and  very  unsatisfactory  to  his  friends. 
When  he  announced  his  Cabinet,  disappointment 
was  universal  among  Republicans,  and  was  greatly 
increased  when  he  asked  Congress  to  relieve  A.  T. 
Stewart,  his  nominee  for  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, from  the  disability  wisely  imposed  by  the  Act 
of  Congress  of  1789,  forbidding  the  appointment 
to  that  position  of  any  one  engaged  "  in^  carrying 
on  the  business  or  trade  of  commerce."  Senator 
Sherman  at  once  introduced  a  bill  to  repeal  this 
enactment,  but  Mr.  Sumner  vigorously  opposed 
the  measure,  and  the  President  soon  afterward  sent 
a  message  to  the  Senate  asking  leave  to  withdraw 
his  request  as  to  Mr.  Stewart.  It  was  doubtless 
the  prompt  and  decided  stand  taken  by  Mr.  Sum- 
ner in  this  matter  which  laid  the  foundation  for  the 
(326) 


GRANT  AND  GREELEY.  327 

President's  personal  hostility  to  him,  which  so  re- 
markably developed  itself  during  the  following 
years.  The  seeds  of  a  party  feud  were  thus  plant- 
ed, and  as  the  Administration  continued  to  show 
its  hand,  bore  witness  to  a  vigorous  growth. 

In  June  of  this  year  I  made  a  trip  to  California 
in  search  of  health,  which  I  had  lost  through  over- 
work, and  was  now  paying  the  penalty  in  a  very 
distressing  form  of  insomnia.  I  took  one  of  the 
first  through  trains  to  the  Pacific,  and  on  reaching 
the  State,  I  found  sight-seeing  and  travel  so  irre- 
sistible a  temptation,  that  I  lost  the  rest  and  quiet. 
I  so  absolutely  needed.  I  was  constantly  on  the 
wing  ;  and  I  encountered  at  every  point,  the  "  set- 
tler," who  was  anxious  to  talk  over  the  land  squab- 
bles of  the  State,  with  which  I  had  had  much  to  do 
in  Congress,  but  now  needed  for  a  season  to  for- 
get. I  found  that  the  half  had  not  been  told  me 
respecting  the  ravages  of  land-grabbing  under  the 
Swamp  Land  Act  of  1850,  and  the  mal-administra- 
tion  of  Mexican  and  Spanish  grants.  I  was  full  of 
the  subject,  and  was  obliged,  also,  to  give  particular 
attention  to  the  pre-emption  of  J.  M.  Hutchings, 
in  the  Yosemite  Valley,  for  the  protection  of  which 
I  had  reported  a  bill  which  was  then  pending ;  and 
I  came  near  losing  my  life  in  the  valley  through 
the  fatigue  I  suffered  in  reaching  it.  After  a  stay 
of  over  two  months  in  California,  and  a  trip  by 
steamer  to  Oregon  and  Washington  Territory,  I 
returned  home  early  in  September,  but  in  no  better 


/•(>/.///. 


health  than  when  I  left ;  and  a  like  experience  at- 
tended a  journey  to  Minnesota  soon  afterward, 
where  I  was  captured  by  leading  railroad  men  who 
belabored  me  over  the  land-grant  to  the  St.  Croix 
and  Bayfield  railroad,  the  revival  of  which  I  ha<! 
aided  in  defeating  at  the  previous  session  of  Con- 
gress. 

I  returned  to  Washington  in  December,  but 
physically  unfit  for  labor,  spending  most  of  the 
session  in  New  York  under  the  care  of  a  physi- 
cian. I  deeply  regretted  this,  for  the  railway  lobby 
was  in  Washington  in  full  force,  as  it  was  during 
the  closing  session  of  the  Forty-first  Congress, 
when  I  was  equally  unfit  for  business.  I  was  not, 
however,  without  consolation.  Under  the  popular 
reaction  against  the  Land-grant  system  which  I 
had  done  my  part  to  create,  the  huge  pile  of  land 
bills  on  the  Speaker's  table  failed,  save  the  Texas 
Pacific  project,  which  was  carried  by  the  most 
questionable  methods,  and  against  such  a  general 
protest  as  clearly  indicated  the  end  of  this  policy. 
A  vote  of  nearly  two  to  one  was  carried  in  the 
House  in  favor  of  a  bill  reported  by  the  Land  Com- 
mittee defining  swamp  and  overflowed  lands,  and 
guarding  against  the  enormous  swindles  that  had 
disgraced  the  Land  Department  and  afflicted 
honest  settlers.  A  like  vote  was  secured  in  favor 
of  the  bill  to  prevent  the  further  disposition  of  the 
public  lands  save  under  the  pre-emption  and  home- 
stead laws,  for  which  I  had  labored  for  years 


GRANT  AND  GREELEY.  329 

Many  thousands  of  acres  had  been  saved  from  the 
clutches  of  monopolists  by  attaching  to  several 
important  grants  the  condition  that  the  lands 
should  be  sold  only  to  actual  settlers,  in  quantities 
not  exceeding  a  quarter  section,  and  for  not  more 
than  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  acre.  A  very 
important  reform,  already  referred  to,  had  been 
made  in  our  Indian  treaty  policy,  by  which  lands 
relinquished  by  any  tribe  would  henceforth  fall 
under  the  operation  of  our  land  laws,  instead  of 
being  sold  in  a  body  to  some  corporation  or  indi- 
vidual monopolist.  The  Southern  Homestead  law 
had  dedicated  to  actual  settlement  millions  of  acres 
of  the  public  domain  in  the  land  States  of 'the  South, 
while  the  Homestead  Act  of  1862  was  splendidly 
vindicating  the  wisdom  of  its  policy.  Congress 
had  declared  forfeited  and  open  to  settlement  a 
large  grant  of  lands  in  Louisiana  for  non-compli- 
ance with  the  conditions  on  which  "it  was  made, 
and  the  public  domain  had  been  saved  from  frightful 
spoliation  by  the  fortunate  defeat  of  a  scheme  of 
land  bounties  that  would  completely  have  over- 
turned the  policy  of  the  pre-emption  and  home- 
stead laws,  while  practically  mocking  the  claims 
of  the  soldiers.  The  opportunity,  now  and  then, 
to  strangle  a  legislative  monster  like  this,  or  to  fur- 
ther the  passage  of  beneficent  and  far-reaching 
measures,  is  one  of  the  real  compensations  of  public 
life. 

The  final  ratification  of  the  Fifteenth   Constitu- 


330  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

tional  Amendment,  which  was  declared  in  force  on 
the  thirtieth  of  March,  1870,  perfectly  consummated 
the  mission  of  the  Republican  party,  and  left  its 
members  untrammeled  in  dealing  with  new  ques- 
tions. In  fact,  the  Republican  movement  in  the 
beginning  was  a  political  combination,  rather  than 
a  party.  Its  action  was  inspired  less  by  a  creed 
than  an  object,  and  that  object  was  to  dedicate  our 
National  Territories  to  freedom,  and  denationalize 
slavery.  Aside  from  this  object,  the  members  of 
the  combination  were  hopelessly  divided.  The  or- 
ganization was  created  to  deal  with  this  single  ques- 
tion, and  would  not  have  existed  without  it*  It  was 
now  regarded  by  many  as  a  spent  political  force, 
although  it  had  received  a  momentum  which  threat- 
ened to  outlast  its  mission  ;  and  if  it  did  not  keep 
the  promise  made  in  its  platform  of  1868,  to  reform 
the  corruptions  of  the  preceding  Administration, 
and  at  the  same  time  manfully  wrestle 'with  the 
new  problems  of  the  time,  it  was  morally  certain  to 
degenerate  into  a  faction,  led  by  base  men,  and 
held  together  by  artful  appeals  to  the  memories  of 
the  past  Our  tariff  legislation  called  for  a  thor- 
ough revision.  Our  Civil  Service  was  becoming  a 
system  of  political  prostitution.  Roguery  and 
plunder,  born  of  the  multiplied  temptations  which 
the  war  furnished,  had  stealthily  crept  into  the 
management  of  public  affairs,  and  claimed  immu- 
nity from  the  right  of  search.  What  the  country 
needed  was  not  a  stricter  enforcement  of  party  dis- 


GRANT  AND  G  REE  LEY.  331 

cipline,  not  military  methods  and  the  fostering  of 
sectional  hate,  but  oblivion  of  the  past,  and  an 
earnest,  intelligent,  and  catholic  endeavor  to  grap- 
ple with  questions  of  practical  administration. 

But  this,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  was  not 
to  be  expected.  The  men  who  agreed  to  stand 
together  in  1856,  on  a  question  which  was  now 
out  of  the  way,  and  had  postponed  their  differences 
on  current  party  questions  for  that  purpose,  were 
comparatively  unfitted  for  the  task  of  civil  admin- 
istration in  a  time  of  peace.  They  had  had  no 
preparatory  training,  and  the  engrossing  struggle 
through  which  they  had  passed  had,  in  fact,  dis- 
qualified them  for  the  work.  While  the  issues  of 
the  war  were  retreating  into  the  past  the  mercenary 
element  of  Republicanism  had  gradually  secured 
the  ascendancy,  and  completely  appropriated  the 
President.  The  mischiefs  of  war  had  crept  into 
the  conduct  of  civil  affairs,  and  a  thorough  school- 
ing of  the  party  in  the  use  of  power  had  famil- 
iarized it  with  military  ideas  and  habits,  and 
committed  it  to  loose  and  indefensible  opinions 
respecting  the  powers  of  the  General  Government. 
The  management  of  the  Civil  Service  was  an  utter 
mockery  of  political  decency,  while  the  animosities 
engendered  by  the  war  were  nursed  and  coddled 
as  the  appointed  means  of  uniting  the  party  and 
covering  up  its  misdeeds.  The  demand  for  reform, 
as  often  as  made,  was  instantly  rebuked,  and  the 
men  who  uttered  it  branded  as  enemies  of  the 


;  ;  |  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

party  and  sympathizers  with  treason.  It  is  need- 
less to  go  into  details  ;  but  such  was  the  drift  of 
general  demoralization  that  the  chief  founders  and 
pre-eminent  representatives  of  the  party,  Chase, 
Seward,  Sumner  and  Greeley  were  obliged  to 
desert  it  more  than  a  year  before  the  end  of  Gen. 
Grant's  first  administration,  as  the  only  means  of 
maintaining  their  honor  and  self-respect.  My 
Congressional  term  expired  a  little  after  Grant 
and  Babcock  had  inaugurated  the  San  Domingo 
project,  and  Sumner  had  been  degraded  from  the 
Chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs 
to  make  room  for  Simon  Cameron.  The  "  irrepres- 
sible conflict  "  had  just  begun  to  develop  itself  be- 
tween the  element  of  honesty  and  reform  in  the 
party,  and  the  corrupt  leadership  which  sought  to 
make  merchandise  of  its  good  name,  and  hide  its 
sins  under  the  mantle  of  its  past  achievements. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Forty-first  Con- 
gress in  March.  1871,  I  visited  New  York,  where 
I  called  on  Greeley.  We  took  a  drive  together, 
and  spent  the  evening  at  the  house  of  a  mutual 
friend,  where  we  had  a  free  political  talk.  He  de- 
nounced the  Administration  and  the  San  Domingo 
project  in  a  style  which  commanded  my  decided 
approval,  for  my  original  dislike  of  Grant  had  been 
ripening  into  disgust  and  contempt,  and,  like 
Greeley,  I  had  fully  made  up  my  mind  that  under 
no  circumstance  could  I  ever  again  give  him  my 
support  After  my  return  home  I  wrote  several 


GRANT  AND  GREELEY.  333 

articles  for  the  Press  in  favor  of  a  "  new  depar- 
ture "  in  the  principles  of  the  party.  Mr.  Valland- 
ingham  had  just  given  currency  to  this  phrase  by 
employing  it  to  designate  his  proposed  policy  of 
Democratic  acquiescence  in  the  XIV  and  XV 
Constitutional  Amendments,  which  was  seconded 
by  the  "  Missouri  Republican,"  and  accepted  by 
the  party  the  following  year.  The  "  new  depart- 
ure "  I  commended  to  my  own  party  was  equally 
thorough,  proposing  the  radical  reform  of  its  Tariff 
and  Land  Policy,  and  its  emancipation  from  the 
rule  of  great  corporations  and  monopolies  ;  a  thor- 
ough reform  of  its  Civil  Service,  beginning  with  a 
declaration  in  favor  of  the  "  one-term  principle," 
and  condemning  the  action  of  the  President  in 
employing  the  whole  power  and  patronage  of  his 
high  office  in  securing  his  re-election  for  a  second 
term  by  hurling  from  office  honest,  capable  and 
faithful  men,  simply  to  make  places  for  scalawags 
and  thieves;  and  the  unqualified  repudiation  of 
his  conduct  in  heaping  honors  and  emoluments 
upon  his  poor  kin,  while  accepting  presents  of  fine 
houses  and  other  tempting  gifts  from  unworthy 
men,  who  were  paid  off  in  fat  places.  I  did  not 
favor  the  disbanding  of  the  party,  or  ask  that  it 
should  make  war  on  Gen.  Grant,  but  earnestly  pro- 
tested against  the  policy  that  sought  to  Tammany- 
ize  the  organization  through  his  re-nomination. 

Returning   to   Washington    on  the  meeting  of 
Congress  in  December,  I  conferred  with  Trumbull, 


334  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Schurz  and  Sumner,  respecting  the  situation,  ami 
the  duty  of  Republicans  in  facing  the  party  crisis 
which  was  evidently  approaching.  During  the 
session,  I  listened  to  the  great  debate  in  the  Sen- 
ate on  Sumner's  resolution  of  inquiry  as  to  the 
sale  of  arms  to  the  French,  and  was  delighted  with 
the  replies  of  Schurz  and  Sumner  to  Conkling 
and  Morton.  My  dislike  of  the  President  stead- 
ily increased,  and  his  disgraceful  conduct  towards 
Sumner  and  alliance  with  Morton,  Conkling,  Cam- 
eron, and  their  associates  rendered  it  morally 
impossible  for  me  any  longer  to  fight  under  his 
banner.  The  situation  became  painfully  embar- 
rassing, since  every  indication  seemed  to  point 
to  his  re-nomination  as  a  foregone  conclusion. 
But  I  clung  to  the  hope  that  events  would  in 
some  way  order  it  otherwise.  In  February,  I  \\.is 
strongly  urged  to  become  a  candidate  for  Con- 
gressman at  large  under  the  new  Congressional 
apportionment ;  and  although  failing  health  un- 
fitted me  for  active  politics,  to  which  I  had  no 
wish  to  return,  I  really  wanted  the  compliment 
of  the  nomination.  The  long-continued  and  wan- 
ton opposition  which  had  been  waged  against 
me  in  my  own  party  led  me  to  covet  it,  and  in 
the  hope  that  General  Grant's  nomination  might 
yet  be  averted  I  allowed  my  friends  to  urge  my 
claims,  and  to  believe  I  would  accept  the  honor 
if  tendered,  which  I  meant  to  do  should  this  hope 
be  realized.  I  saw  that  I  could  secure  it.  My 


GRANT  AND  G  REE  LEY.  335 


standing  in  my  own  party  was  better  than  ever 
before.  The  "  Indianapolis  Journal,"  for  the  first 
time,  espoused  my  cause,  along  with  other  leading 
Republican  papers  in  different  sections  of  the  State. 
The  impolicy  and  injustice  of  the  warfare  which  had 
long  been  carried  on  against  me  in  Indiana  were  so 
generally  felt  by  all.  fair-minded  Republicans  that 
Senator  Morton  himself,  though  personally  quite 
as  hostile  as  ever,  was  constrained  to  call  off  his 
forces,  and  favor  a  policy  of  conciliation.  It  was 
evident  that  my  nomination  was  assured  if  I  re- 
mained in  the  field  ;  but  as  time  wore  on  I  saw  that 
the  re-nomination  of  General  Grant  had  become 
absolutely  inevitable ;  and  as  I  could  not  support 
him  I  could  not  honorably  accept  a  position  which 
would  commit  me  in  his  favor.  The  convention 
was  held  on  the  22d  of  February,  and  en  the 
day  before  I  sent  a  telegram  peremptorily  refus- 
ing to  stand  as  a  candidate ;  and  I  soon  afterward 
formally  committed  myself  to  the  Liberal  Repub- 
lican movement.  I  could  not  aid  in  the  re-election 
of  Grant  without  sinning  against  decency  and  my 
own  self-respect.  I  deplored  the  fact,  but  there 
was  no  other  alternative.  If  it  had  been  morally 
possible,  I  would  have  supported  him  gladly.  I 
had  no  personal  grievances  to  complain  of,  and 
mos.t  sincerely  regretted  the  necessity  which  com- 
pelled my  withdrawal  from  political  associations 
in  which  I  had  labored  many  long  years,  and 
through  seasons  of  great  national  danger.  If  I 


336  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


had  consulted  my  own  selfish  ambition  I  would 
have  chosen  a  different  course,  since  I  knew  by 
painful  experience  the  cost  of  party  desertion,  while 
the  fact  was  well  known  that  the  prizes  of  politics 
were  within  my  reach,  if  I  had  sought  them  through 
the  machinery  of  the  Republican  organization  and 
the  support  of  General  Grant.  Had  the  party, 
having  accomplished  the  work  which  called  it 
into  being,  applied  -itself  to  the  living  questions 
of  the  times,  and  resolutely  set  its  face  against 
political  corruption  and  plunder,  and  had  it  freely 
tolerated  honest  differences  of  opinion  in  its  own 
ranks,  treating  the  question  of  Grant's  re-nomina- 
tion as  an  open  one,  instead  of  making  it  a  test  of 
Republicanism  and  a  cause  for  political  excom- 
munication, I  could  have  avoided  a  separation,  at 
least  at  that  time.  I  made  it  with  many  keen 
pangs  of  regret,  for  the  history  of  the  party  had 
been  honorable  and  glorious,  and  I  had  shared  in  its 
achievements.  My  revolt  against  its  discipline  for- 
cibly reminded  me  of  the  year  1848,  and  was  by  far 
the  severest  political  trial  of  my  life.  My  new  posi- 
tion not  only  placed  me  in  very  strange  relations  to 
the  Democrats,  whose  misdeeds  I  had  so  earnestly 
denounced  for  years ;  but  I  could  not  fail  to  see 
that  the  great  body  of  my  old  friends  would  now 
become  my  unrelenting  foes.  Their  party  intoler- 
ance would  know  no  bounds,  and  I  was  not  un- 
mindful of  its  power ;  but  there  was  no  way  of 
escape,  and  with  a  sad  heart,  but  an  unflinching 


GRANT  AND  GREELE\.  337 

purpose,  I  resolved  to  face  the  consequences  of  my 
decision.  My  chief  regret  was  that  impaired 
health  deprived  me  of  the  strength  and  endurance 
I  would  now  sorely  need  in  repelling  wanton  and 
very  provoking  assaults. 

I  attended  the  Liberal  Republican  Convention 
at  Cincinnati  on  the  first  of  May,  where  I  was  de- 
lighted to  meet  troops  of  the  old  Free  Soilers  of 
1848  and  1852.  It  was  a  mass  convention  of  Re- 
publicans, suddenly  called  together  without  the 
power  of  money  or  the  help  of  party  machinery, 
and  prompted  by  a  burning  desire  to  rebuke  the 
scandals  of  Gen.  Grant's  administration,  and  rescue 
both  the  party  and  the  country  from  political  cor- 
ruption and  misrule.  It  was  a  spontaneous  and 
independent  movement,  and  its  success  necessarily 
depended  upon  the  wisdom  of  its  action  and  not 
the  force  of  party  obligation.  There  were  doubt- 
less political  schemers  and  mercenaries  in  attend- 
ance, but  the  rank  and  file  were  unquestionably 
conscientious  and  patriotic,  and  profoundly  in 
earnest.  I  never  saw  a  finer  looking  body  assem- 
bled. It  was  a  more  formidable  popular  demon- 
stration than  the  famous  Convention  at  Buffalo,  in 
1848,  and  gave  promise  of  more  immediate  and 
decisive  results.  There  was  a  very  widespread 
feeling  that  the  Cincinnati  ticket  would  win,  and 
the  friends  of  Gen.  Grant  could  not  disguise  their 
apprehension.  The  thought  seemed  to  inspire 
every  one  that  a  way  was  now  fortunately  opened 


338  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

for  hastening  the  end  of  sectional  strife  and  purify- 
ing the  administration  of  public  affairs.  The  cap- 
ital speech  of  Stanley  Matthews,  on  accepting  the 
temporary  chairmanship  of  the  Convention,  was 
but  the  echo  of  the  feeling  of  the  Convention,  and 
its  confident  prophecy  of  victory.  "  Parties,"  said 
he,  "  can  not  live  on  their  reputations.  It  was  re- 
marked, I  believe,  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in 
reference  to  the  strife  of  ancestry,  that  those  who 
boasted  most  of  their  progenitors  were  like  the 
plant  he  had  discovered  in  America,  the  best  part 
was  under  ground."  He  declared  that  "the  time 
has  come  when  it  is  the  voice  of  an  exceedingly 
large  and  influential  portion  of  the  American  peo- 
ple that  they  will  no  longer  be  dogs  to  wear  the 
collar  of  a  party."  All  that  now  seemed  wanting 
was  wise  leadership,  and  a  fair  expression  of  the 
real  wish  and  purpose  of  the  Convention. 

The  principal  candidates  were  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  Horace  Greeley,  Lyman  Trumbull,  David 
Davis,  and  B.  Gratz  Brown.  Mr.  Chase  still  had 
a  lingering  form  of  the  Presidential  fever,  and  his 
particular  friends  were  lying  in  wait  for  a  timely 
opportunity  to  bring  him  forward ;  but  his  claims 
were  not  seriously  considered.  The  friends  of 
Judge  Davis  did  him  much  damage  by  furnishing 
transportation  and  supplies  for  large  Western  dele- 
gations, who  very  noisily  pressed  his  claims  in  the 
Convention.  With  prudent  leadership  his  chances 
for  the  nomination  would  have  been  good,  and  he 


GRANT  AND  GREELEY.  339 

would  have  been  a  very  formidable  candidate ;  but 
he  was  "smothered  by  his  friends."  The  really 
formidable  candidates  were  Adams  and  Greeley, 
and  during  the  first  and  second  days  the  chances 
were  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  former.  On  the 
evening  of  the  second  day  Mr.  Brown  and  Gen. 
Blair  arrived  in  the  city,  pretending  that  they  had 
come  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  a  trouble  in 
the  Missouri  delegation ;  but  their  real  purpose 
was  to  throw  the  strength  of  Brown,  who  was 
found  to  have  no  chance  for  the  first  place,  in 
favor  of  Greeley,  who  had  said  some  very  flatter- 
ing words  of  Brown  some  time  before  in  a  letter 
published  in  a  Missouri  newspaper.  This  new 
movement  further  included  the  nomination  of 
Brown  for  the  second  place  on  the  ticket,  and  was 
largely  aimed  at  Carl  Schurz,  who  was  an  Adams 
man,  and  had  refused,  though  personally  very 
friendly  to  Brown,  to  back  his  claims  for  the  Pres- 
idential nomination.  It  seemed  to  be  a  lucky  hit 
for  Greeley,  who  secured  the  nomination ;  but  the 
real  cause  of  Mr.  Adams'  defeat,  after  all,  was  the 
folly  of  Trumbull's  friends,  who  preferred  Adams 
to  Greeley,  in  holding  on  to  their  man  in  the  vain 
hope  of  his  nomination.  They  could  have  nomi- 
nated Adams  on  the  fourth  or  fifth  ballot,  if  they 
had  given  him  their  votes,  as  they  saw  when  it  was 
too  late.  Greeley  regretted  Brown's  nomination, 
and  afterward  expressed  his  preference  for  another 
gentleman  from  the  West;  and  he  had,  of  course, 


340  roi.lTlCAL  KECOLLECTIONS. 

nothing  to  do  with  the   movement  which  placed 
him  on  the  ticket. 

I  was  wofully  disappointed  in  the  work  of  the 
Convention,  having  little  faith  in  the  success  of 
Greeley,  and  being  entirely  confident  that  Adams 
could  be  elected  if  nominated.  I  still  think  he  would 
have  been,  and  that  the  work  of  reform  would  thus 
have  been  thoroughly  inaugurated,  and  the  whole 
current  of  American  politics  radically  changed. 
The  time  was  ripe  for  it.  His  defeat  was  a  wet 
blanket  upon  many  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the 
Convention  and  their  followers.  The  disappoint- 
ment of  some  of  these  was  unspeakably  bitter  and 
agonizing.  Stanley  Matthews,  illustrating  his  pro- 
verbial instability  in  politics,  and  forgetting  his 
brave  resolve  no  longer  "to  wear  the  collar  of  a 
party,"  abruptly  deserted  to  the  enemy.  The 
"  New  York  Nation  "  also  suddenly  changed  front, 
giving  its  feeble  support  to  General  Grant,  and  its 
malignant  hostility  to  Greeley.  The  leading  Free 
Traders  in  the  Convention  who  had  enlisted  zeal- 
ously for  Adams  became  indifferent  or  hostile. 
Many  of  the  best  informed  of  the  Liberal  leaders 
felt  that  a  magnificent  opportunity  to  launch  the 
work  of  reform  and  crown  it  with  success  had 
been  madly  thrown  away.  With  the  zealous  friends 
of  Mr.  Adams  it  was  a  season  of  infinite  vexation  ; 
but  for  me  there  was  no  backward  step.  The  new- 
born movement  had  blundered,  but  Republicanism 
under  the  lead  of  Grant  remained  as  odious  as 


GRANT  AND  G  REE  LEY.  341 

ever.  It  was  still  the  duty  of  its  enemies  to  op- 
pose it,  and  no  other  method  of  doing  this  was 
left  them  than  through  the  organization  just  formed. 
That  a  movement  so  suddenly  extemporized  should 
make  mistakes  was  by  no  means  surprising,  while 
there  was  a  fairly  implied  obligation  on  the  part  of 
those  who  had  joined  in  its  organization  to  abide 
by  its  action,  if  not  wantonly  recreant  to  the  prin- 
ciples that  had  inspired  it.  The  hearts  of  the  lib- 
eral masses  were  for  Greeley,  and  if  he  could  not 
be  elected,  which  was  .by  no  means  certain,  his 
supporters  could  at  least  make  their  organized  pro- 
test against  the  mal-administration  of  the  party  in 
power. 

I  attended  the  Democratic  State  Convention  of 
Indiana  on  the  twelfth  of  June,  which  was  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  enthusiastic  ever  held  in  the 
State.  The  masses  seemed  to  have  completely 
broken  away  from  their  old  moorings,  and  to  be 
rejoicing  in  their  escape,  while  their  leaders,  many 
of  them  reluctantly,  accepted  the  situation.  Both 
were  surprisingly  friendly  to  me.  and  their  purpose 
was  to  nominate  me  as  one  of  the  candidates  for 
Congressman-at-large,  which  they  would  have  done 
by  acclamation  if  I  had  consented.  I  was  much 
cheered  by  such  tokens  of  union  and  fraternity  in 
facing  the  common  enemy.  The  State  campaign 
was  finely  opened  at  Indianapolis  on  the  eleventh 
of  July,  where  I  presented  the  issues  of  the  can- 
vass from  the  Liberal  standpoint;  and  I  continued 


POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 


almost  constantly  on  the  stump  till  the  State  elec- 
tion in  October,  having  splendid  audiences,  and 
gathering  strength  and  inspiration  from  the  pre- 
vailing enthusiasm  of  the  canvass.  The  meetings 
toward  the  close  were  real  ovations,  strikingly  re- 
minding me  of  the  campaign  of  1856.  Up  to  the 
time  of  the  North  Carolina  election  I  had  strong 
hopes  of  victory ;  but  owing  to  the  alarm  which  had 
seized  the  Grant  men  on  account  of  Grceley's  un- 
expected popularity,  and  the  lavish  expenditure 
of  their  money  which  followed,  the  tide  was  turned, 
and  was  never  afterward  checked  in  its  course. 
They  became  unspeakably  bitter  and  venomous, 
and  I  never  before  encountered  such  torrents  of 
abuse  and  defamation,  outstripping,  as  it  seemed  to 
me,  even  the  rabidness  which  confronted  the  Aboli- 
tionists in  their  early  experience.  At  one  of  my 
appointments  a  number  of  colored  men  came  armed 
with  revolvers,  and  breathing  the  spirit  of  war 
which  Senator  Morton  was  doing  his  utmost  to 
kindle.  He  had  been  telling  the  people  every- 
where that  Greeley  and  his  followers  were  Rebels, 
seeking  to  undo  all  the  work  of  the  war,  to  re-en- 
slave the  negro,  and  saddle  upon  the  country  the 
rebel  debt ;  and  these  colored  men,  heeding  his 
logic,  thought  that  killing  Rebels  now  was  as 
proper  a  business  as  during  the  war,  and  would 
probably  have  begun  their  work  of  murder 
if  they  had  not  been  restrained  by  the  more  pru- 
dent counsel  of  their  white  brethren.  Even  in  one 


GRANT  AND  G  REE  LEY.  343 

of  the  old  towns  in  Eastern  Indiana  which  had  been 
long  known  as  the  headquarters  of  Abolitionism, 
a  large  supply  of  eggs  was  provided  for  my  enter- 
tainment when  I  went  there  to  speak  for  Greeley ; 
and  they  were  not  thrown  at  me  simply  because 
the  fear  of  a  reaction  against  the  party  would  be 
the  result.  The  Democrats  in  this  canvass  were 
rather  handsomely  treated ;  but  the  fierceness  and 
fury  of  the  Grant  men  toward  the  Liberal  Repub- 
licans were  unrelieved  by  a  single  element  of  honor 
or  fair  play. 

This  was  pre-eminently  true  in  Indiana,  and  es- 
pecially so  as  to  myself.  The  leaders  of  Grant, 
borrowing  the  spirit  of  the  campaign,  set  all  the 
canons  of  decency  at  defiance.  "  Sore  head." 
"Renegade,"  "Apostate,"  "Rebel,"  and  "dead- 
beat,"  were  the  compliments  constantly  lavished. 
Garbled  extracts  from  my  old  war  speeches  were 
plentifully  scattered  over  the  State,  as  if  we  had 
been  still  in  the  midst  of  the  bloody  conflict,  and  I 
had  suddenly  betrayed  the  country  to  its  enemies. 
Garbled  and  forged  letters  were  peddled  and  parad- 
ed over  the  State  by  windy  political  blatherskites, 
who  were  hired  to  propagate  the  calumnies  of 
their  employers.  In  fact,  my  previous  political 
experience  supplied  no  precedent  for  this  warfare 
of  my  former  Republican  friends.  But  I  was  not 
unprepared  for  it,  and  fully  availed  myself  of  the 
right  of  self-defense  and  counter  attack.  I  would 
not  make  myself  a  blackguard,  but  I  met  my  as- 


344          POLIT/C.U 


sailants  in  every  encounter  with  the  weapons  of 
argument  and  invective,  and  stretched  them  on  the 
rack  of  my  ridicule  ;  while  their  prolonged  howl 
witness  to  the  effectiveness  of  my  work.  My 
whole  heart  was  in  it.  The  fervor  and  enthusiasm 
of  earlier  years  came  back  to  me,  and  a  kindred 
courage  and  faith  armed  me  with  the  strength 
which  the  work  of  the  canvass  demanded. 

The  novelty  of  the  canvass  was  indeed  remark- 
able in  all  respects.  The  Liberal  Republicans  had 
not  changed  any  of  their  political  opinions,  nor 
deserted  any  principle  they  had  ever  espoused, 
touching  the  questions  of  slavery  and  the  war  ; 
and  yet  they  were  now  in  the  fiercest  antagonism 
with  the  men  who  had  been  politically  associated 
with  them  ever  since  the  organization  of  the  party. 
and  who  had  trusted  and  honored  them  through 
all  the  struggles  of  the  past.  They  were  branded 
as  "Apostates"  from  their  anti-  slavery  faith  ;  but 
slavery  had  perished  forever,  and  every  man  of 
them  would  have  been  found  fighting  it  as  before, 
if  it  had  been  practicable  to  call  it  back  to  life  ; 
while  many  of  their  assailants  had  distinguished 
themselves  by  mobbing  Abolitionism  in  the  day 
of  its  weakness.  How  could  men  apostatize  from 
a  cause  which  they  had  served  with  unflinching 
fidelity  until  it  was  completely  triumphant?  And 
how  was  it  possible  to  fall  from  political  grace  by 
withdrawing  from  the  fellowship  of  the  knaves  and 
traders  that  formed  the  body-guard  of  the  Presi- 


GRANT  AND  G  REE  LEY. 


345 


dent,  and  were  using  the  Republican  party  as  the 
instrument  of  wholesale  schemes  of  jobbery  and 
pelf?  To  charge  the  Liberal  Republicans  with 
apostasy  because  they  had  the  moral  courage  to 
disown  and  denounce  these  men  was  to  invent  a 
definition  of  the  term  which  would  have  made  all 
the  great  apostates  of  history  "  honorable  men." 

They  were  called  "  Rebels  " ;  but  the  war  had 
been  over  seven  years  and  a  half,  and  if  the  clock 
of  our  politics  could  have  been  set  back  and  the 
bloody  conflict  re-instated,  every  Liberal  would 
have  been  shouting,  as  before,  for  its  vigorous 
prosecution.  No  man  doubted  this  who  was 
capable  of  taking  care  of  himself  without  the  help 
of  a  guardian. 

It  was  charged  that  "  they  changed  sides  "  in 
politics;  but  the  sides  themselves  had  been  changed 
by  events,  and  the  substitution  of  new  issues  for 
the  old,  and  nobody  could  deny  this  who  was  not 
besotted  by  party  devil-worship  or  the  density  of 
his  political  ignorance. 

They  were  called  "  sore-heads "  and  "  disap- 
pointed place-hunters  ;"  but  the  Liberal  Leaders, 
in  rebelling  against  their  party  in  the  noon-day  of 
its  power,  and  when  its  honors  were  within  their 
grasp,  were  obliged  to  "put  away  ambition"  and 
taste  political  death,  and  thus  courageously  illus- 
trate the  truth  that  "  the  duties  of  life  are  more 
than  life."  The  charge  was  as  glaringly  stupid  as 
it  was  flagrantly  false. 


346  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

But  the  novelty  of  this  canvass  was  equally  man- 
ifest in  the  political  fellowships  it  necessitated. 
While  facing  the  savage  warfare  of  their  former 
friends  Liberal  Republicans  were  suddenly  brought 
into  the  most  friendly  and  intimate  relations  with 
the  men  whose  recreancy  to  humanity  they  had 
unsparingly  denounced  for  years.  They  were  now 
working  with  these  men  because  the  subjects  on 
which  they  had  been  divided  were  withdrawn,  and 
the  country  had  entered  upon  a  new  dispensation. 
The  mollifying  influence  of  peace,  aided,  no  doubt, 
by  the  organized  roguery  which  in  the  name  of  Re- 
publicanism held  the  Nation  by  the  throat,  un- 
veiled to  Liberals  a  new  political  horizon,  and  they 
gladly  exchanged  the  key-note  of  hate  and  war  for 
that  of  fraternity  and  reunion.  They  saw  that  tin- 
spirit  of  wrath  which  had  so  moved  the  Northern 
States  during  the  conflict  was  no  longer  in  order. 
The  more  they  pondered  the  policy  of  amnesty  and 
followed  up  the  work  of  the  canvass  the  more 
thoroughly  they  became  reconstructed  in  heart. 
They  discovered  that  the  men  whom  they  had  been 
denouncing  with  such  hot  indignation  for  so  many 
years  were,  after  all,  very  much  like  other  people. 
Personally  and  socially  they  seemed  quite  as  kindly 
and  as  estimable  as  the  men  on  the  other  side,  while 
very  many  of  them  had  undoubtedly  espoused  the 
cause  of  slavery  under  a  mistaken  view  of  their 
constitutional  obligations,  and  as  a  phase  of  patri- 
otism, while  sincerely  condemning  it  on  principle. 


GRANT  AND  GREELEY.  347 

Besides,  Democrats  had  done  a  very  large  and  in- 
dispensable work  in  the  war  for  the  Union,  and  they 
now  stood  upon  common  ground  with  the  Repub- 
licans touching  the  questions  on  which  they  had 
differed.  On  these  questions  the  party  platforms 
were  identical.  If  their  position  was  accepted  as  a 
necessity  and  not  from  choice,  they  were  only  a 
little  behind  the  Republicans,  who,  as  a  party,  only 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  negro  under  the  whip 
and  spur  of  military  necessity,  and  not  the  prompt- 
ings of  humanity.  In  the  light  of  such  considera- 
tions it  was  not  strange  that  the  Greeley  men  gladly 
accepted  their  deliverance  from  the  glamour  which 
was  blinding  the  eyes  of  their  old  associates  to  the 
policy  of  reconciliation  and  peace,  and  blocking  up 
the  pathway  of  greatly  needed  reforms. 

Soon  after  the  State  election  I  resumed  my 
work  on  the  stump,  which  included  a  series  of 
appointments  in  Kansas,  where  I  addressed  by  far 
the  most  enthusiastic  meetings  of  the  campaign. 
My  welcome  to  the  State  was  made  singularly 
cordial  by  the  part  I  had  played  in  Congress  in 
opposing  enormous  schemes  of  land  monopoly 
and  plunder,  which  had  been  concocted  by  some 
of  her  own  public  servants  in  the  interest  of  rail- 
way corporations  and  Indian  rings.  On  my  return 
to  Indiana  the  signs  of  defeat  in  November  became 
alarming,  and  they  were  justified  by  the  result. 
It  was  overwhelming  and  stunning.  Democrats 
and  Liberals  were  completely  dismayed  and  be- 


348  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

wildcred.  The  cause  of  Mr.  Grecley's  defeat, 
speaking  generally,  was  the  perfectly  unscrupu- 
lous and  desperate  hostility  of  the  party  for  which 
he  had  done  more  than  any  other  man,  living 
or  dead ;  but  the  disaster  resulted,  more  immedi- 
ately, from  the  stupid  and  criminal  defection  of 
the  Bourbon  element  in  the  Democratic  party, 
which  could  not  be  rallied  under  the  banner  of 
an  old  anti-slavery  chief.  Thousands  of  this  class, 
who  sincerely  hated  Abolitionism,  and  loved  negro 
slavery  more  than  they  loved  their  country,  voted 
directly  for  Grant,  while  still  greater  numbers  de- 
clined to  vote  at  all.  Mr.  Greeley's  own  explana- 
tion of  the  result,  which  he  gave  to  a  friend  soon 
after  the  election,  was  as  follows :  "  I  was  an 
Abolitionist  for  years,  when  it  was  as  much  as  one's 
life  was  worth  even  here  in  New  York,  to  be  an 
Abolitionist;  and  the  negroes  have  all  voted  against 
me.  Whatever  of  talents  and  energy  I  have  pos- 
sessed I  have  freely  contributed  all  my  life  long 
to  Protection;  to  the  cause  of  our  manufactures. 
And  the  manufacturers  have  expended  millions  to 
defeat  me.  I  even  made  myself  ridiculous  in  the 
opinion  of  many  whose  <rood  wishes  I  desired  by 
showing  fair  play  and  giving  a  fair  field  in  the 
'Tribune'  to  Woman's  Rights;  and  the  women  have 
all  gone  against  me  !" 

Greeley,  however,  received  nearly  three  million 
votes,  being  considerably  more  than  Governor  Sey- 
mour had  received  four  years  before ;  but  General 


GRAN7*  AND  GREELEY.  349 

Grant,  who  had  been  unanimously  nominated  by  his 
party,  was  elected  by  two  hundred  and  eighty-six 
electoral  votes,  and  a  popular  majority  of  nearly 
three  quarters  of  a  million,  carrying  thirty-one  of 
the  thirty-seven  States.  To  the  sincere  friends  of 
political  reform  the  situation  seemed  hopeless.  The 
President  was  re-crowned  our  King,  and  political 
corruption  had  now  received  so  emphatic  a  pre- 
mium that  honesty  was  tempted  to  give  up  the 
struggle  in  despair.  His  champions  were  already 
talking  about  a  "  third  term,"  while  the  Repub- 
lican party  had  become  the  representative  and 
champion  of  great  corporations,  and  the  instrument 
of  organized  political  corruption  and  theft. 

And  yet  this  fight,  of  Liberals  and  Democrats 
was  not  in  vain.  They  planted  the  seed  which 
ripened  into  a  great  popular  victory  four  years 
later,  while  the  policy  of  reconciliation  for  which 
they  battled  against  overwhelming  odds  was 
hastened  by  their  labors,  and  has  been  finally  ac- 
cepted by  the  country.  They  were  still  further 
and  more  completely  vindicated  by  the  misdeeds 
of  the  party  they  had  sought  to  defeat.  The  spec- 
tacle of  our  public  affairs  became  so  revolting  that 
before  the  middle  of  General  Grant's  second  term 
all  the  great  Republican  States  in  the  North  were 
lost  to  the  party,  while  leading  Republicans  be- 
gan to  agitate  the  question  of  remanding  the 
States  of  the  South  to  territorial  rule,  on  account 
of  their  disordered  condition.  At  the  end  of  this 


350  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

term  the  Republican  majority  in  the  Senate  had 
dwindled  from  fifty- four  to  seventeen,  while  in  the 
House  the  majority  of  one  hundred  and  four  had 
been  wiped  out  to  give  place  to  a  Democratic  ma- 
jority of  seventy-seven.  No  vindication  of  the 
maligned  Liberals  of  1872  could  have  been  more 
complete,  while  it  summoned  to  the  bar  of  history 
the  party  whose  action  had  thus  brought  shame 
upon  the  Nation  and  a  stain  upon  Republican  in- 
stitutions. 

After  the  presidential  election  I  went  to  Wash- 
ington, where  I  met  Chief  Justice  Chase  in  the  Su- 
preme Court  and  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  with 
him.  He  looked  so  wasted  and  prematurely  old 
that  I  scarcely  knew  him.  He  was  very  genial, 
however,  and  our  long  political  talk  was  exceed- 
ingly enjoyable.  It  seemed  to  afford  him  much 
satisfaction  to  show  me  a  recently  reported  dissent- 
ing opinion  of  his  in  which  he  re-asserted  his 
favorite  principle  of  State  rights.  I  only  met  him 
once  afterward,  and  this  was  at  the  inauguration 
of  General  Grant.  I  called  on  Mr.  Sumner  the 
same  evening,  and  found  him  in  a  wretched  state  of 
health,  which  was  aggravated  by  the  free  use  of 
poisonous  drugs.  Heseemedvery  much  depressed, 
politically.  He  had  lost  caste  with  the  great  party 
that  had  so  long  idolized  him,  and  which  he  had 
done  so  much  to  create  and  inspire.  He  had  been 
deserted  by  the  colored  race,  to  whose  service  he 
had  unselfishly  dedicated  his  life.  He  had  been  de- 


GRANT  AND  G REELED.  351 

graded  from  his  honored  place  at  the  head  of  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  and  for 
no  other  reason  than  the  faithful  and  conscientious 
performance  of  his  public  duty.  He  had  been 
rebuked  by  the  Legislature  of  his  own  State. 
His  case  strikingly  suggested  that  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  in  1807,  when  the  anathemas  of  Massachu- 
setts were  showered  upon  him  for  leaving  the  Fed- 
eral party  when  it  had  accomplished  its  mission 
and  survived  its  character,  and  joining  the  sup- 
porters of  Jefferson.  I  sympathized  with  him  pro- 
foundly; but  his  case  was  not  so  infinitely  sad  as 
that  of  poor  Greeley,  over  whose  death,  however, 
the  whole  Nation  seemed  to  be  in  mourning.  He 
had  greatly  overtaxed  himself  in  his  masterly  and 
brilliant  campaign  on  the  stump,  in  which  he  dis- 
played unrivaled  intellectual  resources  and  versa- 
tility. He  had  exhausted  himself  in  watching  by 
the  bedside  of  his  dying  wife.  He  had  been  assailed 
as  the  enemy  of  his  country  by  the  party  which  he 
had  done  more  than  any  man  in  the  Nation  to 
organize.  He  had  been  hunted  to  his  grave  by 
political  assassins  whose  calumnies  broke  his  heart. 
He  was  scarcely  less  a  martyr  than  Lincoln,  or  less 
honored  after  his  death,  and  his  graceless  defamers 
now  seemed  to  think  they  could  atone  for  their 
crime  by  singing  his  praises.  It  is  easy  to  speak 
well  of  the  dead.  It  is  very  easy,  even  for  base  and 
recreant  characters,  to  laud  a  man's  virtues  after  he 
has  gone  to  his  grave  and  can  no  longer  stand  in 


352  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

their  path.  It  is  far  easier  to  praise  the  dead  than 
do  justice  to  the  living;  and  it  was  not  strange, 
therefore,  that  eminent  clergymen  and  doctors  of 
divinity  who  had  silently  witnessed  the  pollings  of 
Mr.Greeleyby  demagogues  and  mercenaries  during 
the  canvass  now  poured  out  their  eloquence  at  his 
grave.  What  he  had  sorely  needed  and  was  re- 
ligiously entitled  to  was  the  sympathy  and  succor 
of  good  men  while  he  lived,  and  especially  in  his 
heroic  struggle  for  political  reconciliation  and  re- 
form. The  circumstances  of  his  death  made  it 
peculiarly  touching  and  sacramental,  and  I  was  in- 
expressibly glad  that  I  had  fought  his  battle  so  un- 
flinchingly, and  defended  him  everywhere  against 
his  conscienceless  assailants. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CONCLUDING   NOTES. 

Party  changes  caused  by  the  slavery  issue — Notable  men  in  Con- 
gress during  the  war — Sketches  of  prominent  men  in  the 
Senate  and  House — Scenes  and  incidents — Butler  and  Bing- 
ham — Cox  and  Butler — Judge  Kelley  and  Van  Wyck — 
Lovejoy  and  Wickliffe — Washburne  and  Donnelly — Oakes 
Ames — Abolitionism  in  Washington  early  in  the  war — Life 
at  the  capital — The  new  dispensation  and  its  problems. 

IN  theearlypart  of  the  period  covered  by  the  pre- 
ceding chapters  our  political  parties  were  divided  on 
mere  questions  of  policy  and  methods  of  administra- 
tion. Trade,  Currency,  Internal  Improvements,  and 
the  Public  Lands  were  the  absorbing  issues,  while 
both  parties  took  their  stand  against  the  humani- 
tarian movement  which  subsequently  put  those 
issues  completely  in  abeyance,  and  compelled  the 
country  to  face  a  question  involving  not  merely 
the  policy  of  governing,  but  the  existence  of  the 
Government  itself.  When  the  slavery  question 
finally  forced  its  way  into  recognition  it  naturally 
brought  to  the  front  a  new  class  of  public  men. 
and  their  numbers,  as  I  have  shown,  steadily  in- 
creased in  each  Congress  from  the  year  1845  till 
the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  in  1861.  The  Con- 
23  (353) 


354  POLITICAL  RECOI 1 1  <  JfONS. 

gross  which  came  into  power  with  Mr.  Lincoln 
did  not  fully  represent  the  anti-slavery  spirit  of  the 
Northern  States,  but  it  was  a  decided  improve- 
ment upon  its  predecessors.  In  the  Senate  were 
such  men  as  Collamer,  Fesscnden,  Doolittle, 
Baker,  Browning.  Anthony,  Grimes,  Hale,  Harlan, 
Sherman,  Trumbull,  Sumncr,  Wade,  Henry  Wil- 
son, Chandler,  Lane  of  Indiana,  Harris  of  New 
York,  Andrew  Johnson,  B.  Gratz  Brown  and 
Howard.  In  the  House  were  Conkling,  Bingham- 
Colfax,  Dawes,  Grow,  Hickman,  Kelley,  Potter, 
Lcvejoy,  Pike  of  Maine,  Ashley,  Rollins  of  Mis- 
souri, Shellabarger,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Elihu  B. 
Washburn,  Isaac  N.  Arnold  and  James  F.  Wilson. 
During  the  Rebellion  and  the  years  immediately 
following,  Ferry  of  Connecticut,  Cresswell,  Ed- 
monds, Conkling,  Morgan,  Morton,  Yates,  Car- 
penter, Hamlin,  Henderson,  Morrill  of  Maine, 
and  Schurz,  were  added  to  the  prominent  men  of 
the  Senate,  and  Boutwell,  Blair,  Henry  Winter 
Davis,  Deming,  Jenckes,  Garfield,  Schenck,  Banks, 
Orth,  Raymond,  Butler,  Hoar,  McCrary,  to  the 
list  in  the  House.  During  this  period  the  Demo- 
crats had  in  the  Senate  such  men  as  Bayard,  Garret 
Davis,  Hicks,  Saulsbury,  Buckalew,  Hendricks, 
Bright,  Reverdy  Johnson,  Thurman,  and  F.  P. 
Blair;  and  in  the  House,  S.  S.  Cox,  Crittenden, 
Holman,  Kcrr,  Pendleton,  Richardson,  Valland- 
ingham,  Niblack,  Voorhees,  Brooks,  Randall, 
and  Woodward.  The  men  who  controlled  Con- 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  355 


gress  during  these  years  of  trial  were  not  the  in- 
tellectual equals  of  the  famous  leaders  who  figured 
in  the  great  crisis  of  1850,  but  they  were  a  differ- 
ent and  generally  a  better  type.  They  were  sum- 
moned to  the  public  service  to  deal  with  tremen- 
dous problems,  and  lifted  up  and  ennobled  by  the 
great  cause  they  were  commissioned  to  serve.  It 
did  more  for  them  than  it  was  possible  for  them  to 
do  for  it.  It  took  hold  on  the  very  foundations 
of  the  Government,  and  electrified  all  the  springs 
of  our  national  life ;  and  although  great  mistakes 
were  made,  and  the  fervor  of  this  period  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  sickening  dispensation  of  demoralized 
politics,  it  was  a  great  privilege  to  be  permitted  to 
share  in  the  grand  battle  for  the  Nation's  life,  and 
the  work  of  radical  re-adjustment  which  followed. 
I  have  already  referred  to  several  of  the  con- 
spicuous characters  whose  names  I  have  grouped. 
Such  men  as  Collamer,  Fessenden,  Browning  and 
Trumbull,  were  among  the  famous  lawyers  and 
conservatives  on  the  Republican  side  of  the  Senate. 
They  were  conscientious  and  unflinching  partisans, 
but  were  studiously  anxious  to  save  the  Union 
according  to  the  Constitution,  and  deprecated  all 
extreme  and  doubtful  measures.  Opposed  to  them 
stood  Sumner,  Wade,  Chandler,  and  their  radical 
associates,  who  believed  in  saving  the  Union  at  all 
hazards,  and  that  not  even  the  Constitution  should 
be  allowed  to  stay  the  arm  of  the  Government  in 
blasting  the  power  of  the  Rebels.  It  was  perhaps 


356  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

fortunate  for  the  country  that  these  divisions  ex- 
isted, and  held  each  other  in  check.  Mr.  Collamcr 
was  the  impersonation  of  logical  force  and  the 
beau  ideal  of  a  lawyer  and  judge.  There  was  a 
sort  of  majesty  in  the  figure  and  brow  of  Fessen- 
den  when  addressing  the  Senate,  and  his  sarcasm 
was  as  keen  as  it  was  inimitable ;  but  his  nature 
was  kindly,  and  his  integrity  perfect.  Trumbull 
was  a  less  commanding  figure,  but  he  greatly  hon- 
ored his  position  as  chairman  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee  of  the  Senate,  and  his  memory  will  be 
held  in  perpetual  remembrance  as  the  author  of  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill  and  of  the  XIII  Amendment  to 
the  Constitution.  Sumner,  I  think,  was  the  purest 
man  in  the  Senate,  if  not  the  ablest.  He  was  pre- 
eminently the  hero  of  duty,  and  the  servant  of 
what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth.  No  man  could 
have  made  a  more  absolute  surrender  of  himself  to 
his  country  in  the  great  conflict  which  threatened 
its  life.  His  weary  and  jaded  look  always  excited 
my  sympathy,  for  he  seemed  to  be  sacrificing  all 
the  joys  of  life,  and  life  itself,  in  his  zeal  for  the 
public  service.  I  knew  Wade  more  intimately 
than  any  man  in  the  Senate,  through  my  associa- 
tion with  him  as  a  member  of  the  same  Committee 
for  successive  years,  and  was  always  interested  in 
his  personal  traits  and  peculiarities.  He  was  "  a 
man  of  uncommon  downrightness."  There  was 
even  a  sort  of  fascination  about  his  profanity.  It 
had  in  it  a  spontaniety  and  heartiness  which  made 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  3  $7 


it  almost  seem  the  echo  of  a  virtue.  It  was  unlike 
the  profane  words  of  Thaddeus  Stevens,  which 
were  frequently  carried  on  the  shafts  of  his  wit  and 
lost  in  the  laughter  it  provoked.  Edmunds,  now 
so  famous  as  a  lawyer,  and  leader  in  the  Senate, 
and  so  well  known  by  his  reputed  resemblance  to 
St.  Jerome,  was  simply  respectable  on  his  first  ap- 
pearance ;  but  his  ability,  industry,  and  constant 
devotion  to  his  duties  soon  gave  him  rank  among 
the  prominent  men  in  that  body.  Grimes  of  Iowa 
was  one  of  the  really  strong  men  of  this  period, 
while  Harlan,  his  colleague,  possessed  a  vigor 
and  grasp  of  mind  which  I  think  the  public  never 
fully  accorded  him.  Lane  of  Indiana  was  full  of 
patriotic  ardor,  and  like  Baker  of  Oregon,  had  the 
rare  gift  of  eloquent  impromptu  speech.  Henry 
Wilson  earned  the  gratitude  of  his  country  by  his 
unswerving  loyalty  to  freedom,  and  his  great  labors 
and  invaluable  services  as  chairman  of  the  Military 
Committee.  Howard  ranked  among  the  first  law- 
yers and  most  faithful  men  in  the  body,  and  no 
man  had*  a  clearer  grasp  of  the  issues  of  the  war. 
Henderson  was  a  strong  man,  whose  integrity  and 
political  independence  were  afterward  abundantly 
proved.  Doolittle  was  a  man  of  vigor,  and  made 
a  good  record  as  a  Republican,  but  he  naturally 
belonged  to  the  other  side  of  the  Senate,  and  finally 
found  his  way  to  it  through  the  quarrel  with 
Johnson. 

Garret  Davis  was  always  an  interesting  figure. 


35 S  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

His  volubility  of  talk  bordered  on  the  miraculous  ; 
and  whenever  he  began  to  swathe  the  Senate  in 
his  interminable  rhetoric  it  awakened  the  laughtrr 
or  the  despair  of  everybody  on  the  floor  or  in  the 
galleries.  Bayard  and  Thurman  were  recognized 
as  the  strong  men  on  their  side  of  the  Senate  in 
the  Forty-first  Congress.  Buckalew  was  one  of 
the  really  sterling  men  of  his  party,  but  he  was  a 
modest  man,  and  only  appreciated  by  those  who 
knew  him  intimately.  As  a  leading  Democrat, 
Hendricks  stood  well  in  the  Senate.  He  was  so 
cautious  and  diplomatic  in  temper  and  so  genial 
and  conciliatory  in  his  manner  that  he  glided 
smoothly  through  the  rugged  conflict  of  opinions 
in  which  his  side  of  the  chamber  was  unavoidably 
involved.  B.  Gratz  Brown  was  known  as  an  in- 
tense radical,  but  he  made  little  mark  in  this  crisis. 
He  wrote  out  elaborate  and  scholarly  essays  which 
he  read  to  the  Senate,  but  they  received  slight  at- 
tention from  members,  and  seemed  to  bear  little 
fruit.  Carpenter,  Schurz  and  Morton  took  their 
seats  after  the  war,  and  were  not  long  irt  finding 
honorable  recognition.  Carpenter  was  as  brilliant 
and  versatile  in  intellect  as  he  was  naturally  elo- 
quent in  speech  and  wayward  in  morals.  Carl 
Schurz  displayed  ability  in  the  famous  debate  with 
Morton  and  Conkling  on  the  sale  of  arms  to  the 
French,  and  his  political  independence  in  1872 
gave  him  great  prominence  as  a  Liberal  Republi- 
can leader ;  but  that  virtue  has  been  less  conspicu- 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  359 


ously  illustrated  in  later  years.  Morton  became 
famous  soon  after  he  entered  the  Senate.  The 
"  logic  of  events  "  had  revolutionized  the  opinions 
so  vigorously  espoused  by  him  only  a  few  months 
before,  and  his  great  speech  on  reconstruction,  in 
which  he  avowed  and  defended  his  change  of  base, 
brought  him  into  great  prominence,  and  multiplied 
his  friends  in  every  section  of  the  country. 

In  the  House,  Roscoe  Conkling  was  recognized 
as  a  man  of  considerable  talent  and  great  self-es- 
teem. I  have  elsewhere  referred  to  his  passage  at 
arms  with  Elaine.  He  never  linked  his  name  with 
any  important  principle  or  policy,  and  was  sin- 
gularly wanting  in  the  qualities  of  a  party  leader. 
No  one  questioned  his  personal  integrity,  but  in 
later  years  he  was  prompt  and  zealous  in  the  de- 
fense of  the  worst  abuses  which  found  shelter  in 
his  party.  Mr.  Sherman  was  shrewd,  wiry  and 
diplomatic,  but  gave  little  promise  of  the  career  he 
has  since  achieved  through  ambition,  industry  and 
favoring  conditions.  Shellabarger  was  one  of  the 
ablest  men  in  the  House,  and  was  so  rated.  He 
was  always  faithful  and  vigilant,  and  I  have  before 
given  an  instance  of  this  in  his  timely  action  on 
the  question  of  reconstruction.  Mr.  Elaine,  during 
the  first  years  of  his  service,  showed  little  activity. 
He  spoke  but  seldom  and  briefly,  but  always  with 
vigor  and  effect.  He  steadily  grew  into  favor  with 
his  party  in  the  House  as  a  man  of  force,  but 
without  seeming  to  strive  for  it.  I  think  his  abilities 


/V/ ///('.//.  RECOLLECTIONS. 

were  never  fully  appreciated  till  he  became  speaker. 
HN  personal  magnetism  was  as  remarkable  as  his 
readiness  to  serve  a  friend  was  unfailing;  but.  like 
Mr.  Conkling,  he  never  identified  himself  with  any 
grc.xt  legislative  measure. 

Henry  Winter  Davis  was  the  most  formidable 
debater  in  the  House.  He  was  full  of  resources, 
while  the  rapidity  of  his  utterance  and  the  impet- 
uosity of  his  speech  bore  down  every  thing  before 
it.  The  fire  and  force  of  his  personality  seemed  to 
make  him  irresistible,  and  can  only  be  likened  to 
the  power  displayed  by  Mr.  Blaine  in  the  House 
in  his  later  and  palmier  years.  When  Gen.  Gar- 
field  entered  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress  there 
was  a  winning  modesty  in  his  demeanor.  I  was 
interested  in  his  first  effort  on  the  floor,  which  was 
brief,  and  marked  by  evident  diffidence.  He  was 
not  long,  however,  in  recovering  his  self-possession, 
and  soon  engaged  actively  in  general  debate.  His 
oratory,  at  first,  was  the  reverse  of  winning,  owing 
to  the  peculiar  intonation  of  his  voice,  but  grad- 
ually improved,  while  his  hunger  for  knowledge, 
unflagging  industry,  and  ambition  for  distinction, 
gradually  revealed  themselves  as  very  clearly  de- 
fined traits.  During  the  first  years  of  his  service 
the  singular  grasp  of  his  mind  was  not  appreciated, 
but  it  was  easy  to  see  that  he  was  growing,  and 
that  a  man  of  his  political  ambition  and  great  in- 
dustry could  not  be  satisfied  with  any  position  of 
political  mediocrity.  His  situation  as  a  Repre- 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  361 

sentative  of  the  Nineteenth  Ohio  District  was  ex- 
ceedingly favorable  to  his  aspirations,  as  it  was  the 
custom  of  that  district  to  continue  a  man  in  its 
service  when  once  installed,  and  its  overwhelming 
majority  relieved  him  of  all  concern  about  the  result. 
He  could  thus  give  his  whole  time  and  thought 
to  the  study  of  politics,  and  the  mastery  of  those 
historical  and  literary  pursuits  which  he  afterward 
made  so  available  in  the  finish  and  embellishment 
of  his  speeches. 

As  a  parliamentary  leader,  Mr.  Stevens,  of  course, 
was  always  the  central  figure  in  the  House.  No 
possible  emergency  could  disconcert  him.  Whether 
the  attack  came  from  friend  or  foe,  or  in  whatever 
form,  he  was  ready,  on  the  instant,  to  repel  it  and 
turn  the  tables  completely  upon  his  assailant.  He 
exercised  the  most  absolute  freedom  of  speech, 
making  his  thrusts  with  the  same  coolness  at  "  un- 
righteous copperheads  and  self-righteous  Republi- 
cans." In  referring  to  the  moderate  and  deprecatory 
views  of  Colfax  and  Olin,  in  January,  1863,  he  said 
he  had  always  been  fifteen  years  in  advance  of  his 
party,  but  never  so  far  ahead  that  its  members  did 
not  overtake  him.  His  keenest  thrusts  were  fre- 
quently made  in  such  a  tone  and  manner  as  to  dis 
arm  them  of  their  sting,  and  create  universal  merri- 
ment. When  Whaley  of  West  Virginia  begged 
him,  importunately,  to  yield  the  floor  a  moment  for 
a  brief  statement,  while  Mr.  Stevens  was  much 
engrossed  with  an  important  discussion,  he  finally 


362  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

gave  way,  saying,  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  yield  to  the  gen- 
tleman from  West  Virginia  for  a  few  feeble  re- 
marks." When  he  lost  his  temper  and  waged  war 
in  earnest  his  invective  was  absolutely  remorseless, 
as  in  the  example  I  have  given  of  it  in  a  previous 
chapter. 

I  have  before  referred  to  the  oratory  of  Bingham. 
He  was  a  reader  of  books  and  a  master  of  En- 
glish. He  loved  poetry,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
genial  and  companionable  of  men,  but  he  was 
irritable  and  crispy  in  temper,  and  a  formidable  cus- 
tomer in  debate.  He  had  several  angry  bouts 
with  Butler,  in  one  of  which  he  spoke  sneeringly 
of  the  "  hero  of  Fort  Fisher,"  to  which  Butler  re- 
plied that  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  had  shown  his 
prowess  in  the  hanging  of  Mrs.  Surratt,  an  in- 
nocent woman,  upon  the  scaffold.  Bingham  re- 
torted that  such  a  charge  was  "  only  fit  to  come 
from  a  man  who  lives  in  a  bottle,  and  is  fed  with  a 
spoon."  He  was  often  dogmatic  and  lacking  in 
coolness  and  balance,  but  in  later  years  he  showed 
uncommon  tact  in  extricating  himself  from  the 
odium  threatened  by  his  connection  with  the 
Credit  Mobilier  scheme. 

One  of  the  really  strong  men  in  the  House  was 
John  Hickman,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  been  a 
prominent  figure  in  Congress  during  Buchanan's 
administration.  He  was  a  man  of  brains,  courage, 
and  worth.  Potter  was  a  true  and  brave  man, 
whose  acceptance  of  a  challenge  from  Roger  A. 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  363 

Pryor,  and  choice  of  butcher  knives  as  the  weapons 
of  warfare,  had  made  him  very  popular  at  the 
North.  Rollins  of  Missouri  was  an  eloquent 
man,  of  superior  ability  and  attainments,  and  large 
political  experience.  Pike  of  Maine  was  one  of 
the  first  men  in  the  House,  but  too  honest  and  in- 
dependent to  sacrifice  his  convictions  for  the  sake 
of  success.  Deming  of  Connecticut  was  a  man 
of  real  calibre,  and  on  rare  occasions  electrified  the 
House  by  his  speeches,  but  he  lacked  industry. 
One  of  the  finest  debaters  in  the  House  was  Henry 
J.  Raymond.  He  displayed  very  decided  power 
in  the  debate  on  Reconstruction,  and  very  effect- 
ively exposed  the  weakness  of  the  Republicans  in 
practically  dealing  with  the  Rebel  States  as  if  they 
were  at  once  in  and  out  of  the  Union.  Among  the 
most  striking  figures  in  the  House  were  Butler  and 
Cox,  whose  contests  were  greatly  relished.  They 
were  well  matched,  and  alternately  carried  off  the 
prize  of  victory.  Butler,  in  the  first  onset,  achieved  a 
decided  triumph  in  his  reply  to  a  very  personal  as- 
sault by  Cox.  "  As  to  the  vituperation  of  the  mem- 
ber from  New  York,"  said  he,  "  he  will  hear  my 
answer  to  him  by  every  boy  that  whistles  it  on  the 
street,  and  every  hand-organ,  *  Shoo,  fly,  don't  bod- 
der  me  ' !  "  Cox,  for  the  time,  was  extinguished,  but 
patiently  watched  his  opportunity  till  he  found  his 
revenge,  which  Butler  afterward  frankly  acknowl- 
edged. For  a  time  there  was  bad  blood  between 
them,  but  they  finally  became  friends,  and  I  think 
so  continued. 


364  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

General  Bulks  was  always  a  notable  personality. 
His  erect  figure,  military  eye,  and  splendid  voice 
secured  for  him  the  admiring  attention  of  the  gal- 
leries whenever  he  addressed  the  Mouse.  Ashley 
of  Ohio  who  took  the  lead  in  the  impeachment 
movement,  in  which  he  was  so  zealous  that  he  be- 
came known  as  "  Impeachment  Ashley,"  was 
another  picturesque  figure.  His  fine  physique, 
frolicsome  face,  and  luxuriant  suit  of  curly  brown 
hair  singled  him  out  among  the  bald  heads  of  the 
body  as  one  of  its  most  attractive  members.  Bout- 
well  impressed  the  House  as  a  man  of  solid  qual- 
ities, and  a  formidable  debater.  He  acquitted 
himself  admirably  in  his  defense  of  Butler  against 
a  savage  attack  by  Brooks.  Blair  was  a  man  of 
ability,  independence,  and  courage,  of  which  his 
record  in  the  House  gave  ample  proof.  Wilson 
of  Iowa  was  a  young  man  when  he  entered  Con- 
gress, but  soon  gave  proof  of  his  ability,  and  took 
rank  as  one  of  the  best  lawyers  on  the  Judiciary 
Committee.  Judge  Kelley,  since  known  as  the 
"  Father  of  the  House,"  and  one  of  the  fathers  of 
the  Greenback  movement,  first  attracted  attention 
by  the  wonderful  volume  and  power  of  nis  voice. 
It  filled  the  entire  Hall,  and  subdued  all  rival 
sounds ;  but  to  the  surprise  of  everybody,  he  met 
with  more  than  his  match  when  he  was  followed, 
one  day,  by  Van  Wyck,  of  New  York,  who  tri- 
umphantly carried  off  the  palm.  Kelley 's  voice 
was  little  more  than  a  zephyr,  in  comparison  with 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  365 

the  roar  and  thunder  that  followed  it  and  called 
forth  shouts  of  laughter,  while  Kelley  quietly  occu- 
pied his  seat  as  if  in  dumb  amazement  at  what  had 
happened. 

James  Brooks  was  always  a  conspicuous  figure 
on  the  Democratic  side  of  the  House.  I  first 
knew  him  in  the  log  cabin  days  of  1840,  and  after- 
ward served  with  him  in  the  Congress  of  1849. 
He  was  a  man  of  ability,  a  genuine  hater  of  the 
negro,  and  a  bitter  partisan  ;  but  I  never  saw  any 
reason  to  doubt  his  personal  integrity,  and  I  think 
the  affair  which  threw  so  dark  a  cloud  over  his 
reputation  in  later  years  was  a  surprise  to  all  who 
knew  him.  Michael  C.  Kerr  was  one  of  the  very 
first  men  in  the  House,  and  a  man  of  rare  purity 
and  worth.  Randall,  like  Garfield,  was  a  growing 
man  during  the  war,  and  through  his  ambition, 
natural  abilities,  and  Congressional  training,  he 
became  one  of  the  chief  magnates  of  his  party. 
Pendleton  was  counted  an  able  man,  and  made  his 
mark  as  a  Bourbon  Democrat  and  the  champion 
of  hard  money;  but  he  subsequently  spoiled  his 
financial  record  by  his  scheme  for  flooding  the 
country  with  greenbacks.  Vallandingham  was  con- 
spicuous for  his  intellectual  vigor,  passionate  ear- 
nestness, and  hatred  of  Abolitionism.  He  had  the 
courage  of  his  opinions.  The  Republicans  hated 
him  consumedly.  He  was  a  member  of  the  House 
Committee  on  Public  Lands,  which  reported  the 
Homestead  Bill,  and  I  remember  that  no  Repub- 


366  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

lican  member,  except  the  chairman,  showed  the 
slightest  disposition  to  recognize  him.  After  the 
war  was  ended,  however,  and  the  work  of  recon- 
struction was  accomplished,  his  temper  and  qual- 
ities seemed  to  have  spent  much  of  their  force. 
He  was  among  the  very  first  to  plead  for  acqui- 
escence and  the  policy  of  reconciliation ;  and  if  his 
life  had  been  spared  I  believe  his  catholic  spirit 
and  active  leadership  in  the  "  New  Departure " 
would  have  re-instated  him  in  the  sincere  regard 
of  men  of  all  parties.  Lovejoy  was  the  most  im- 
passioned orator  in  the  House.  His  speeches  were 
remarkable  for  their  pungency  and  wit,  and  when 
the  question  of  slavery  was  under  discussion  his 
soul  took  fire.  He  hated  slavery  with  the  ani- 
mosity of  a  regular  Puritan,  and  when  he  talked 
about  it  everybody  listened.  Wickliffe  of  Ken- 
tucky was  one  of  the  most  offensive  represen- 
tatives of  the  Border  State  policy,  and  whenever 
he  spoke  Lovejoy  was  sure  to  follow.  As  often 
as  Wickliffe  got  the  floor  it  was  noticed  that  Love- 
joy's  brow  was  immediately  darkened  in  token  of 
the  impending  strife,  while  his  friends  and  enemies 
prepared  themselves  for  the  scene.  Wickliffe  was 
a  large,  fierce-looking  man,  with  a  shrill  voice,  and 
quite  as  belligerent  as  Lovejoy;  and  their  contests 
were  frequent,  and  always  enjoyed  by  the  House, 
and  for  some  time  became  a  regular  feature  of  its 
business. 

Elihu    B.   Washburn   was   conspicuous   as   the 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  367 

champion  of  economy.  He  rivaled  Holman  as 
the  "  watch-dog  of  the  treasury  "  and  the  enemy 
of  land-grants.  He  was  a  man  of  force,  and 
rendered  valuable  service  to  the  country,  but  he 
assumed  such  airs  of  superior  virtue,  and  fre- 
quently lectured  the  House  in  so  magisterial  a  tone 
as  to  make  himself  a  little  unpopular  with  mem- 
bers. This  was  strikingly  illustrated  in  1868,  in  his 
controversy  with  Donnelly  of  Minnesota  against 
whom  he  had  made  some  dishonorable  charges 
through  a  Minnesota  newspaper.  Donnelly  was 
an  Irishman,  a  wit,  and  an  exceedingly  versatile 
genius,  and  when  it  became  known  that  he  was  to 
defend  himself  in  the  House  against  Washburn's 
charges,  and  make  a  counterattack,  every  member 
was  in  his  seat,  although  the  weather  was  intensely 
hot  and  no  legislative  business  was  to  be  trans- 
acted. Donnelly  had  fully  prepared  himself,  and 
such  a  castigation  as  he  administered,  has  rarely, 
if  ever,  been  witnessed  in  a  legislative  body.  He 
kept  up  a  ceaseless  and  overwhelming  fire  of 
wit,  irony,  an'd  ridicule,  for  nearly  two  hours,  during 
which  the  members  frequently  laughed  and  some- 
times applauded,  while  Washburn  sat  pale  and  mute 
under  the  infliction.  The  tables  were  turned  upon 
him,  although  portions  of  Donnelly's  tirade  were 
unparliamentary,  and  indefensible  on  the  score  of 
coarseness  and  bad  taste.  No  member,  however, 
raised  any  point  of  order ;  but  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Washburn  afterward  surrounded  Donnelly,  and 


368  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

by  artful  appeals  to  his  good  nature  prevailed 
upon  him  to  suppress  a  portion  of  the  speech,  and 
to  proffer  statements  which  tended  to  destroy  its 
effect  and  to  restore  to  Washburn  the  ground  he 
had  lost.  The  House  had  its  fun,  while  W.ish- 
burn  deigned  no  reply  except  to  re-affirm  his 
charges,  and  Donnelly's  friends  were  vexed  at  his 
needless  surrender  of  his  vantage-ground.  It 
an  odd  and  unexpected  denouement  of  a  very  re- 
markable exhibition. 

Oakes  Ames  was  one  of  the  members  of  the 
House  with  whom  I  was  best  acquainted.  I  thought 
I  knew  him  well,  and  I  never  had  the  slightest 
reason  to  suspect  his  public  or  private  integrity. 
Personally  and  socially  he  was  one  of  the  kindliest 
men  I  ever  knew,  and  I  was  greatly  surprised  when 
I  learned  of  his  connection  with  the  Credit  Mobilicr 
project.  It  first  found  its  way  into  politics  through 
a  speech  of  Horace  Greeley  near  the  close  of  the 
canvass  of  1872,  but  it  had  been  fully  exposed  by 
Washburn  of  Wisconsin  in  a  speech  in  Congress 
in  the  year  1868.  The  history  of  its  connection 
with  American  politics  and  politicians  forms  an  ex- 
ceedingly interesting  and  curious  chapter.  The 
fate  of  the  men  involved  in  it  seems  like  a  perfect 
travesty  of  justice  and  fair  play.  Some  of  them 
have  gone  down  under  the  waves  of  popular  con- 
demnation. Others,  occupying  substantially  the 
same  position,  according  to  the  evidence,  have  made 
their  escape  and  even  been  honored  and  trusted  by 


NOTES.  369 


the  public,  while  still  others  are  quietly  whiling 
away  their  lives  under  the  shadow  of  suspicion. 
The  case  affords  a  strange  commentary  upon  the 
principle  of  historic  justice. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  connected  with 
the  first  years  of  the  war  was  the  descent  of  the 
Abolitionists  upon  Washington.  They  secured 
the  hall  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  for  their  meet- 
ings, which  they  held  weekly,  and  at  which  the 
Rev.  John  Pierpont  presided.  It  was  with  much 
difficulty  that  the  hall  was  procured,  and  one  of 
the  conditions  of  granting  it  was  that  it  should 
be  distinctly  understood  and  announced  that  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  was  to  be  in  no  way  respon- 
sible for  anything  that  might  be  said  by  the  speak- 
ers. This  was  very  emphatically  insisted  on  by 
Professor  Henry,  and  was  duly  announced  at  the 
first  meeting.  At  the  following,  and  each  succeed- 
ing lecture,  Mr.  Pierpont  regularly  made  the  same 
announcement.  These  gatherings  were  largely 
attended  and  very  enthusiastic;  and  as  the  anti- 
slavery  tide  constantly  grew  stronger,  the  weekly 
announcement  that  "  the  Smithsonian  Institute 
desires  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  it  is  not 
to  be  held  responsible  for  the  utterances  of  the 
speakers,"  awakened  the  sense  of  the  ludicrous, 
and  called  forth  rounds  of  applause  and  explo- 
sions of  laughter  by  the  audience,  in  front  of  which 
Professor  Henry  was  seated.  Each  meeting  thus 
began  with  a  frolic  of  good  humor,  which  Mr. 
24 


370  1\>1  IT1CAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

Pierpont  evidently  enjoyed,  for  he  made  his  an- 
nouncement with  a  gravity  which  naturally  pro- 
voked the  mirth  which  followed.  These  meetings 
were  addressed  by  Wendell  Phillips,  Gerrit  Smith 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Dr.  Brownson,  and  other 
notable  men,  nnd  were  enjoyed  as  a  sort  of  jubilee 
by  the  men  and  women  who  attended  them. 

The  services  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives  each 
Sabbath  formed  the  fitting  counterpart  of  these 
proceedings  The  crowds  in  attendance  filled 
every  part  of  the  floor  and  galleries,  and  were  full 
of  enthusiasm.  The  most  terrific  arraignment  of 
slavery  I  ever  listened  to  was  by  Rev.  Dr.  George 
B.  Cheever,  in  the  course  of  these  services.  He  was 
a  man  of  great  ability,  unquenchable  zeal,  fervid 
eloquence,  and  an  Old  Testament  Christian  who 
was  sometimes  called  the  Prophet  Isaiah  of  the 
anti-slavery  cause.  He  carried  his  religion  coura- 
geously into  politics,  and  while  arraigning  slavery 
as  the  grand  rebel,  he  also  severely  criticised  the 
management  of  the  war  and  the  Border  State  pol- 
icy of  the  President.  The  most  pronounced  anti- 
slavery  sermons  were  also  preached  in  the  Capital 
by  Dr.  Boynton,  Mr.  Channing  and  others,  while 
the  Hutchinson  family  occasionally  entertained  the 
public  with  their  anti-slavery  songs.  All  this 
must  have  been  sufficiently  shocking  to  the  slave 
holding  politics  and  theology  of  the  city,  whose 
slumbers  were  thus  rudely  disturbed. 

There  was  a  peculiar  fascination  about  life  in 


CONCLUDING   NOTES. 


371 


Washington  during  the  war.  The  city  itself  was 
unattractive.  Its  ragged  appearance,  wretched 
streets,  and  sanitary  condition  were  the  reproach  of 
its  citizens,  who  could  have  had  no  dream  of  the 
Washington  of  to-day  ;  but  it  was  a  great  military 
as  well  as  political  center.  Our  troops  were  pour- 
ing in  from  every  loyal  State,  and  the  drum-beat 
was  heard  night  and  day,  while  the  political  and 
social  element  hitherto  in  the  ascendant,  was  com- 
pletely submerged  by  the  great  flood  from  the 
North.  The  city  was  surrounded,  and  in  part  oc- 
cupied by  hospitals,  and  for  a  time  many  of  the 
principal  churches  were  surrendered  to  the  use  of 
our  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  whose  numbers 
were  fearfully  swelled  after  each  great  battle.  The 
imminent  peril  to  which  the  Capital  was  repeatedly 
exposed,  and  the  constantly  changing  fortunes  of 
the  war,  added  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  crisis, 
and  marked  the  alternations  of  hope  and  fear 
among  the  friends  and  enemies  of  the  Union.  But 
notwithstanding  the  seriousness  of  the  times,  there 
was  a  goodly  measure  of  real  social  life.  Human 
nature  demanded  some  relaxation  from  the  dread- 
ful strain  and  burden  of  the  great  conflict,  and  this 
was  partially  found  in  the  levees  of  the  President 
and  Cabinet  ministers,  and  the  receptions  of  the 
Speaker,  which  were  largely  attended  and  greatly 
enjoyed  ;  and  this  enjoyment  was  doubtless  much 
enhanced  by  the  peculiar  bond  of  union  and  feel- 
ing of  brotherhood  which  the  state  of  the  country 


372  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS, 

.iw.ikened  among  its  friends.  The  most  pleasant 
of  these  occasions,  however,  were  the  weekly  re- 
ceptions of  the  Speaker.  Those  of  Speaker  Grow 
were  somewhat  marred,  and  sometimes  interrupted, 
by  his  failing  health,  but  the  receptions  of  Mr. 
Colfax  were  singularly  delightful.  He  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  great  office  with  marked  ability 
and  fairness,  and  was  personally  very  popular;  and 
there  always  gathered  about  him  on  these  occasions 
an  assemblage  of  charming  and  congenial  people, 
whose  genuine  cordiality  was  a  rebuke  to  the  insin- 
cerity so  often  witnessed  in  social  life. 

But  I  need  not  further  pursue  these  personal  de- 
tails, nor  linger  over  the  by-gones  of  a  grand  epoch. 
We  have  entered  upon  a  new  dispensation.  The 
withdrawal  of  the  slavery  question  from  the  strife  of 
parties  has  changed  the  face  of  our  politics  as  com- 
pletely as  did  its  introduction.  The  transition 
from  an  abnormal  and  revolutionary  period  to  the 
regular  and  orderly  administration  of  affairs,  has 
been  as  remarkable  as  the  intervention  of  the  great 
question  which  eclipsed  every  other  till  it  com- 
pelled its  own  solution.  Although  this  transition 
has  given  birth  to  an  era  of  "slack-water  politics," 
it  has  gradually  brought  the  country  face  to  face 
with  new  problems,  some  of  which  are  quite  as 
vital  to  the  existence  and  welfare  of  the  Republic 
as  those  which  have  taxed  the  statesmanship  of  the 
past.  The  tyranny  of  industrial  domination,  which 
borrows  its  life  from  the  alliance  of  concentrated 


CONCLUDING  NOTES.  373 

capital  with  labor-saving  machinery,  must  be  over- 
thrown. Commercial  feudalism,  wielding  its  power 
through  the  machinery  of  great  corporations  which 
are  practically  endowed  with  life  offices  and  the 
right  of  hereditary  succession  and  control  the  mak- 
ers and  expounders  of  our  laws,  must  be  subor- 
dinated to  the  will  of  the  people.  The  system  of 
agricultural  serfdom  called  Land  Monopoly,  which 
is  now  putting  on  new  forms  of  danger  in  the  rapid 
multiplication  of  great  estates  and  the  purchase  of 
vast  bodies  of  lands  by  foreign  capitalists,  must  be 
resisted  as  a  still  more  formidable  foe  of  demo- 
cratic Government.  The  legalized  robbery  now 
carried  on  in  the  name  of  Protection  to  American 
labor  must  be  overthrown.  The  system  of  spoils 
and  plunder  must  also  be  destroyed,  in  order  that 
freedom  itself  may  be  rescued  from  the  perilous 
activities  quickened  into  life  by  its  own  spirit,  and 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs  inspired  by  the  great 
moralities  which  dignify  private  life. 

These  are.  the  problems  which  appeal  to  the 
present  generation,  and  especially  to  the  honorable 
ambition  of  young  men  now  entering  upon  public 
life.  Their  solution  is  certain,  because  they  are  di- 
rectly in  the  path  of  progress,  and  progress  is  a  law  ; 
but  whether  it  shall  be  heralded  by  the  kindly 
agencies  of  peace  OF  the  harsh  power  of  war,  must 
depend  upon  the  wise  and  timely  use  of  oppor- 
tunities. The  result  is  certain,  since  justice  can 
not  finally  be  defeated ;  but  the  circumstances  of 


374  POLITICAL  RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  struggle  and  the  cost  of  its  triumph  are  com- 
mitted to  the  people,  who  can  scarcely  fail  to  find 
both  instruction  and  warning  in  the  story  of  the 
anti-slavery  conflict. 


ABOLITIONISTS,  102,  223;  their  de- 
scent upon  Washington,  369, 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  57,  100 ; 
candidate  for  the  presidency,  338, 
339.340. 

Adams,  Dr.  Nehemiah.  97. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  strong  lan- 
guage of,  26;  his  trial,  26;  his 
opinion  of  General  Cass,  27 ;  of 
Webster,  62 ;  reference  to,  351. 

Allen,  Charles,  55,  73, 82, 101, 105, 118. 

Allen,  William,  39. 

Ames,  Oakes,  3rt8. 

Anthony,  Henry  B.,  354. 

Anti-slavery  critics  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
221,222. 

Argus,  the  Albany,  184. 

Arnold,  Isaac  N.,  354. 

Ashlty,  James  M.,  75,  234,  236 ;  his 
action  respecting  the  XIII  Con- 
stitutional Amendment,  250 ;  ref- 
erence to,  292. 

Ashmun,  George,  75. 

BAILEY.  DR.  GAMALIEL,  74, 112. 

Baker,  Edward  D.,  109,  354,  357. 

Banks,  Nathaniel  P  ,  146 ;  nominat- 
ed for  president  by  Know-Notti- 
ings,  151:  elected  speaker,  14C; 
personal  appearance  of,  364. 

Barnwell,  Robert,  84. 

Bayard,  Thomas  F.,  354,  358. 

Bayly,  Thomas  H.,  75. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  231. 

Bell,  John,  111;  nominated  for  pres- 
ident, 1V6. 


Bentou,  Thomas  H.,  39,  81 ;  his  fra- 
cas with  Foote,  90,  91,  92,  93;  his 
character,  92. 

Berrien,  John  McPherson,  111. 

Bigger,  Samuel,  116. 

Bingham,  John  A.,  146, 234,  235, 354 ; 
his  controversy  with  Butler,  362. 

Bird,  F.  W.,  57. 

Birney,  James  G.,  nominated  for 
the  presidency,  24;  his  vote  in 
1844,  41. 

Blaiiie,  James  G.,  his  quarrel  with 
Conkling,  275,  276, 277;  his  action 
as  to  reconstruction  and  negro 
suffrage,  308:  sketch  of,  35'J,  360. 

Blair,  Austin,  :;64. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  148. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  jr.,212;  his  "Broad- 
head  letter,"  320;  reference  to, 
339,354. 

Blair,  Montgomery,  retirement 
from  the  cabinet,  248. 

Bliss,  Philemon,  146. 

Booth,  Sherman  M.,  147. 

Boutwell,  George  S.,  speech  on  the 
impeachment  of  President  John- 
son, 314,  315;  reference  to,  354, 
364. 

Boynton,  Rev.  Dr.,  370. 

Bradburn,  George,  119. 

Breckenridge,  John  C.(  nominated 
for  vice-president,151;  nominated 
for  president,  176. 
Bright,  John,  240 
Bright,  Jesse  D.,  39,  354. 
Brisbane,  Wm.  Henry,  316 


(375) 


376 


Brown.  .vilvrt  ti..  mi.  108. 
Brown.    B    Onus,   nominated  fur 
vlcc-prwddeut,  338,  339;  reference 


Brown,  Jxlin.  in  Virginia,  108. 

Brown.  Win  J..7I.  7.VK  117. 

Brooks.  Jame*.  16.  88.  365.  &'.•. 

llmuKli.  <i  'Vcrnor,  334. 

Browning.  O.  H  ,  854. 

Brownaon.  Dr..  370. 

Bryant.  W'i.  231. 

Buchanan.   James,    :F.'.     r.i' 
nominated  for  president  in  1856, 
167;  warfare  against,  190.  Wl;  his 
character,  191,  I'/.'.  l'J3;  close  of 
bis  administration.  M 

It'ickiilcw.  Charles  It,  354,  35K, 

Itntlalo  r.mvi-iition.W.67,68,  59.00. 

IiiitVniKton,  Jamcii,  146. 

Hull  Run.  battle  of,  1U6  197. 

Hurlingamc.  Anson,  146. 

Hunis.  Anthony.  147. 

Burniide,   Ambrose  E..    -KJi 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  of  New  York, 
06. 

Butler.  Benjamin  P.,  of  Massm  -tin- 
sells,  his  testimony  on  the  Port 
Fisher  expedition.  24'J;  refer,  no- 
to,  2)7.  354:  his  controversy  with 
Binghain,  .102;  with  Cox,  363. 

Butler,  A.  1'.,  106,  107. 

CALHOUK,  JOHN  C.,  his  charm  r. 

87  ;  referent  to,  92,  107.  111. 
California,  attempt  to  divide,  170  ; 

her   dealings   with    the   public 

lands,  '.-OS;  bill  to  quiet  bin  . 

in.  296.  299,  300  ;  action  of  the  del- 

egation on,  300,  :»l. 
Cameron,  Simon,    182;    his    anti- 

slavery  war  jxjlicy,  200  ;  reference 

to.  -jj. 

Campaign  of  isv,,  1.V2.  i.Vi,  1M.  l.v.. 
Campaign  of  1860.   174,  175,  17i>.  177 
Campbell  I    : 
Gary.  Phebe.  231. 


Carpenter.  Mm.  11..  ..•!.  J58. 

Citsa.  General  Ix?wl«.  his  eflbn  to 
fhii-1.1  the  i..rvi(jn  slave  trade  'J7  ; 
H  riiiiilnliite  tortile  preiiideney  in 
1844.  :-,  the  V.  ilniot  1'roviso  and 
the  "  Meholwin  letter.'  47.  4H ; 
iioininutlon  in  IMS,  01;  his  dt 
leal,  67.  70.  79,  II1.' 

(  him. Her,  /uehnriiih.    VJ, -J01,  864. 

ChannliiK.  i'r..  letter  to  Cluy.  23. 

Cliaiiiiinx    Rev.  \\lii.  11 

Chaise.  Salmon  1'..  Us.  11.  107;  with- 
drawal irniu  t)i<  !"irty. 
II'J:  iii>iuiii:iii-.l  |,,r  (iMvernor.il 
(>lii<>.  Ill;  <li  |irccatc«  policy  of 
n-lon,  190;  reference  to,  195. 
•JO.';  his  opinion  res|>cctlng  the 
policy  of  emancipation  l>y  proc- 
lamation. :2S;  inovcnicnt  tonom- 
Intite  him  for  the  ; 

appointed     chief     ju- 
•Jl>;  hi"  opini-ni   ulKnit  mlner.il 
land*.  -2M;     cruel     injustice    to, 
:;i\  :;i;i;  his  separation  from  the 
llepnliliciin  i.arty.  lUfJ.  3JS,  3.V). 

cheevfr.  Kcv.  Dr.  Uco-jje  U..  his  re- 
inarkablc  sermon 

<  hil.l.  Mrs.  1..  Maria,  169. 

Choatc,  Rufus.  39. 

Cincinnati  tiazctic,  167. 

Clay,  Cassias  M.,  37 ;  founds  an  an- 
ti-slavery paper  in  Kentucky,  41; 
rel'eren.''-  to.  ll'.i.  12"j,.126.  r.'7. 

Clay,  Henry.  sa<-rili«:.'.l  by  his 
friends,  13;  speech  on  abol  it  ton- 
is. n,  23;  comleiuned  Harri.vm's 
iiuuiKiiral  hi.^'  M.-II 

denhall  spft-ch,"  27;  nomiim 
lion  inlH44.:«>:  hi>  position  on 
^  Texas  annexntion.  M;  II!H  defeat 
and  its  caiuics,  40.  41,  42,43;  his 
abandonment  by  the  Whigs  in 
1848, 54, 5.')  •  reference  to,  69,  8i, 
83.  91,  93,  102,  111  :  extract  tmm 
speech,  84;  "Omni bus  bill,"  8-.. 

Clemens,  Jeremiah,  Kf7. 


INDEX. 


377 


Cllngman.  Thomas  L  ,  80. 

Cobb.  Howell,  77,  78,  104,  111. 

Coffin.  Elijah,  27. 

Colfax,  Schuyler,  146,  236,  243,  354, 
361;  his  receptions.  371.  372. 

Collamer,  Jacob,  354,  355. 

Compromise  measures,  94,  05; 
pledge  of  politicians  to  support, 
101 :  reference  to,  102, 136. 

Compromise.  Critteiiden,  185. 

Conduct  of  the  War,  committee  on 
the,  its  report,  230,  231;  visits 
Richmond.  252,  253,254;  visit  to 
City  P  int.  249 :  its  final  report, 
'.262,263;  its  usefulness,  262,  '.63: 
iis  interview  with  President 
Johnson,  257;  its  meeting  with 
Secretary  Stantun,  2  0,  212 ;  visit 
to  Fort  Pillow,  238,  2.J9 ;  confer- 
ence with  the  President,  201, 202. 

Confiscation,  first  act  of,  198 ;  later 
act,  219. 

Conkling,  Roscoe,  his  controversy 
with  Blaiue,  275,  276,  277 ;  refer- 
ence to,  231,  334, 354,  358, 359. 

Conness,  John,  287,  291. 

Constitutional  amendment,  the 
XIII;  its  final  adoption,  249,250, 
251, 252. 

Constitutional  amendment,  the 
XIV,  characterized,  272,  273;  its 
rejection  by  the  rebellious  States, 
304. 

Convention,  Cleveland,  248. 

Convention,  Republican  National, 
242. 

Corwin,  Thomas,  H9,  111. 

Covode,  John,  146,  201. 

Cox,  S.  s.,  354;  his  contest  with 
Butler,  363. 

Cravens,  James  H.,  39, 116. 

Crawford,  Martin  J.,  171. 

Cresswell,  J<  hn  A.  J.,  354. 

Crittenden,  John  J  ,  354. 

Cuba,  designs  on,  169. 

Curtin,  Andrew  G.,  177. 

Curtis,  George  Ticknor,  191. 

Gushing,  Caleb,  173. 


DALLAS,  GEORGE  M.,  33. 

Davis,  David,  338. 

Davis,  Garret,  250,  354,  857,  338. 

Davis.  Henry  Winter,  246,  217,  256: 
his  power  in  debate,  300. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  80,  83,  106,  168, 
172. 

Davis,  John  W.,  39. 

Dawes.  Henry  L..  354. 

Dayton,  Win.  L.,111:  nomination 
for  vice-president,  150. 

De  Jarnette,  Daniel  C.,  171. 

Deming,  Henry  C  ,  &54,  363. 

Democratic  platform  of  1856, 151. 

De  Witt,  Alexander.  135. 

Dickinson,  Daniel  S.,  39. 

Dix,  John  A.,  125. 

Donelson,  Andrew  J.,  nominated 
for  vice-president,  157. 

Donnelly,  Ignatius,  his  controversy 
with  Washburne,  367,  368. 

Dooliltle,  James  R.,  354,  357. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  108  120;  prop- 
osition to  repeal  the  TMissouri 
compromise,  135;  his  defection, 
165, 166, 167.  168;  his  removal  from 
chairmanship  of  committee  on 
Territories,  172;  his  canvass  on 
the  stump,  178. 

Douglass,  Frederick,  65,  803. 

Dred  Scott  decision,  159;  charac- 
terized, 159,  160;  referred  to,  174. 

Dunn,  Wm.  McKee,  242,  2i3. 

Dunn  George  G.,  39. 

Durkee,  Charles,  73,  74, 118, 146. 

EDMUNPS,  GEORGE  F.,  354,  357. 
Elder,  Dr.  Wm.,  99. 
Kldridge,  Charles  A.,  250. 
Emerson  Ralph  Waldo,  370. 
English  Bill,  162. 
Enquirer,  Richmond,  188. 
Everett,   Edward,    nominated    for 

vice-president,  176. 
Kwing,  Thomas,  89  111,288. 

FEE,  JOHN  G..  126, 127. 173. 
Ferry,  Orris  S.,  354. 


/.\v 


Fr  sriuien.  wm,  Pitt,  aa,  n\  si«: 

Injuailc*  to.  318;  reference  to.  851. 
I'm  1. 1  Dudley,  66.125. 

Flllmon.ltillard.  9.:.  i<v,  r.-i:  nomi- 
nated fur  president.  151,  283. 

Filch.  Graham  X  .117. 

Footo.  HI-HI)  -.  lus  quarrel  with 
Ht-nton.  91.  9£  called  "  Hangman 
Foote."  ami  why.  92. 

P»rney.  John  W..  78.196. 

Koater,  Lafayette  8..  146. 

Fowler,  Joseph  >.,  ::IT. 

Krecntan.  John.  his  trial  as*  fugi- 
tive slave.  83. 

Free  Preaa.  Detroit.  199.       - 

Free  .-oil  Party,  organized,  65.  66; 
its  national  convention  in  1862, 
I.'.1.  123;  nomination-,  i 

FreeSollers.  irj;  tln.-ir  i-osition.  i  .:. 

Krvlinghuyaen.  Theodore.  30. 

Fremont.  John  C..  hb  nomination 
for  president,  150;  his  proclama- 
tion  of  emancipation.  r.<- 
uominated    for     president,    .:;-. 
reference  to.  230,  ail,  2»s. 

Vry,  (ii-ni-ral  !•::•. 

t^igitive  Slave  act,  95.  101,  lie,  1 17. 
163. 

Furneas,  Dr.  Wm  1 1 

GALLOWAY,  SAMUEL.  146. 

Oarfleld.  Jamea  A..  354;  first  RJ> 
Iicnrance  in  Congress,  300, 861. 

earner.  Margaret.  117. 

Garnet t.  Rev.  Henry  Highland 

Garrison.  Wm  Lloyd,  22. 100. 

Gates,  Seth  M..  61. 

Gentry,  Merideth  P..  125. 

Gerrymandering  in  Indiana  303. 

Gibion.  Colonel,  his  oratory,  236. 

Giddiugs,  Ji whua  II.,  censure  of,  26; 
his  tract  on  slavery.  :<!;  ref.  n  n<  . 
to. 38.  57.  61.  72.  74.  82.  Ill,  ll.\  1  !'.<. 
148. 149:  reward  offered  for  kid- 
napping, 173. 

Glotkbrenner,  Adam  J.,  78. 


Godey'i  Udy'a  Book.  98. 

Uold-bearing  lands.  legUlation  con- 
cern Ing.  •_••  ^287.888. 
289.  aw.  2U1.  -Jl»-A  298,  294,  295,  296. 
.  HHIiIrl  \V.. 
!1.  \Vlllluiil.  Krj. 

(Jrant,  fly>- 

sketrh  of,  ::i'.i:  noiulnaii-.l  for 
prwilden  .  33);  overulielnniiK 
election,  :;r.i ;  inaiigurnl  mea<«ge 
ami  ml. in.  i-liani. -|,  r 

of  Ins  ad  in  In  1st  ml  ion 

<  •reHcy.IIoiace.hix  campaign  or-.ui 
in  IMO,  1J;  hi-  HtuteiiK 
lllg  the  |ire»ideliliul  v.,te  <if    1MI, 

42;  lil.s  opinion  of  Ui-neral  Tay- 
lor's  nomination,  55 ;  his  conn-  •• 
tion  with  the  homcMtead  policy. 
103;  relerred  to,  U'6;  speech  in 
the  Pituburg  convention,  l  i.s  ; 
hia  "  pr.i) er  of  twenty  millions," 
220,221;  qimieil.  ::is;  Ills  scparn- 
tioll  In. in  the  Hepllblieail  |mrl\ , 
832:  hi.s  nominal  ion  for  president. 
S»;  opposition  to.  340;  hiii  defeat 
and  ita causes,  :M7,  "I*;  his  ,|...  n,, 
861.  3,Y_>;  vindieation  of  the  I.i'.er- 
uN.  ;;r...  M 

Grimes,  James  \V.,  3i:>,  316;  injus- 
tice to.  318;  reference  to,  354. 

Grow,  Galusha  A.,  146,  354, 372. 

HALE,  JOHN  P.,  elected  senator.  45; 
nominated  for  |ire>i<leiii.  ."<",  71. 
84. 107;  vote  for  in  IWj,  1J9;  ref- 
erence to,  i:;. 

iralleek.  <;eiu-rnl.  200. 
Hiunlin.  Haiiiiilml.  l<ri,  177,354. 
llaiineKiin,  Kdwuril  A.,  30, 
Harlan.  Aaron.  1  Hi. 
Iliirlnii,  James,  1 1C,  354.  857. 
llarix-r's  Jour,  of  Civilization,  'J8. 
HurrU,  Ira.  361 
IlHiris  ii,    William   Henry.     Whig 

nominee  for  president  in  1A40, 11; 

his  political  position  and  letter 


INLTEX. 


379 


to  Harmer,  Denny,  and  Sherrod 
Williams,  12;  his  chaiacter,  15; 
abuse  and  defamation  of.  by  the 
Democrats,  15, 16 ;  speech  at  Day- 
ton, 17;  his  hatred  of  abolition- 
ism, 24.  25. 

Hayes.  Rutherford  B.,  293. 

Helper,  Hinton  Rowan,  171. 

Henderson.  John  B.,  316,  354,  3o7. 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  2oO,  3T>1. 
358. 

Henley,  Thomas  J.,  39. 

Henry,  Prof.  Joseph,  369. 

Herald,  New  York,  184.  199. 

Hickman.  John.  146,354,  362, 

Hicks,  Thomas  H.,  354. 

Hildrcth,  Richard,  102. 

Holman,  Wm.  S..  354,  367. 

Holt,  Joseph,  173. 

Homestead  act,  passage  of,  216;  its 
defects,  216,  217,  218 ;  proposal  to 
extend  it  to  forfeited  and  con- 
fiscated lands.  238. 

Hooker,  General  Joseph,  224. 

Hooker,  Mr.,  defense  of  slavery,  97. 

Howard,  Tilghman  A. ,39. 

Howard,  Jacob  >!.,  354,  357. 

Howe,  John  \V.,  73, 118. 

Howe,  Timothy  O.,  his  course  to- 
ward Chief  Justice  Chase,  3,9. 

Houston,  Samuel,  108. 

Hunt,  Washington,  63. 

Hunter,  General,  his  anti-slavery 
order,  218. 

Hutchins,  John,  236. 
Hutchinson  Family,  370. 

Hutchings,  J.  M.,  his  pre-emption 
in  Yosemite  valley,  327. 

ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILWAY,  29. 
Indiana,  her  black  laws,  115. 
Indianapolis  Journal,  167;  extract 
from,  268 ;  reference  to,  335. 

JACKSON,  ANDKKW,  32, 105. 
Jay,  Wm.,  102. 


Jefferson,  Thomas,  192, 193,  325. 

Jenckes.Thomas  A.,  his  bill  for  the 
reform  of  the  civil  service,  323, 
324  ;  reference  to,  354. 

Jot  nson,*  Andrew,  his  homestead 
bill,  103,  104 ;  reference  to,  201 ; 
nominated  for  vice-president, 
243;  his  inauguration,  255;  his 
talk  about  the  rebel  leaders,  257 ; 
his  breach  with  Congress,  273, 
274 ;  his  veto  <>f  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  bill,  and  angry  speech, 
274 ;  his  veto  of  the  i  econstruc- 
tion  bill.  310,  311  ;  vote  on  im- 
peachment of,  312,  313  ;  popu'ar 
feeliug  against.  314 ;  injustice  to, 
318 ;  reference  to,  354. 

Johnson,  Herschel  V.,  nominated 
with  Douglas,  175. 

Johnson.  Reverdy.  354 

Jones,  Geo.  W.,  125. 

Jones.  Joseph  O.,  129. 

Journal,  Albany  Evening,  184. 

Julian,  Geo.  W.,  his  vote  for  Gen- 
eral Harrison,  11,  12;  supports 
Clay  in  1844,  37,  38;  his  defense  of 
the  Liberty  party,  42,  43;  first 
speech  on  the  slavery  question, 
88;  elector  for  Van  Buren  and 
Adams,  65:  his  account  of  the 
Buffalo  convention,  56,  57,  58,  59, 
60,  6  ;  of  the  campaign  of  1848, 
65,  66,  67;  first  re-election  to  Con- 
gress. 71;  his  visit  to  Boston,  100; 
candidate  for  re-election  to  Con- 
gress in  1851,  1.6,  117,118;  nomi- 
nated for  vice-president,  126, 124; 
canvass  in  Kentucky  with  Mr. 
Clay,  125, 126, 127;  encounter  with 
mob  law  in  Indiana,  128,  125j 
chairman  of  committee  on  organ- 
ization in  first  Republican  na- 
tional convention,  14'J;  connec- 
tion with  fugitive  slave  case  in 
Indiana,  163, 164;  visit  to  Mr.  Lfn- 
coln,  181 ;  appointed  a  member  of 


/.w 


Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the 
War,  201;  resolution  IT 
amendment  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
i  JI5;  speech  on  tin-  |H,llry 
of  the  war.  Jl.v.  hi*  cauva*»  d.r 
re-election  to  Congress  in  IN>J 
215.  21* ;  hUeotino  <l»u  with  the 
homestead law.  216:  hit  resolution 
In  favor  of  repenting  0 

s;    Interview* 
wlthtl 

229,290:  with  General  Burundi , 
225;  visit  to  Gerrit  Smith.  231 :  his 
l>!ll  for  tbo  repeal  of  the  Fugitive 
Wave  law.  238,  437:  campaiKit  in 
( >hio  and  Iowa.  284  Z», 298 ;  ap- 
p-intcd  chainiiun  «>f  romtnith-e 
on  Public  I-nmK  2-jfi  :  his  bill  to 
extend  (he  homestead  law  to  for- 
feited and  confisca'ed  land-t.  '.'"-S  : 
hii«  altercation  with  Mr.  Miillory, 
.41,  24-':  interviews  with  Mr  Lin- 
eoln,  241.  2i.*>;  hi--  csjionsal  of  ne- 
gro suffrage,  C63,  261.  266.  26;,  267. 
268;  hi*  reply  to  Governor  Mor- 
ton. U68,  269:  Introduction  of 
E3ght  Hour  bill.  .74.  275 ;  hia  op- 
position to  Innd  bounties,  277. 

278.279,  280;  his  bill   providing 
bounty  in  money  mid  accompa- 
nying report,  279.  280;  his  bill 
providing  lor  the  sale  of  mineral 
lands,  and  report.  285.  286,  287. 

288.280.  2UO.  '.SI,  .92;  resolution 
Introduced  by,    and    in<-i>K-nis. 
311,31'J;   re-nomination  i 
gnm.  320.  "SI:  review  of  his  work 
on  the  ctiiiii|>.  '•?£.'•;  introduction  of 
XVI  Amendment  to   the   '  ..n-ii- 
tution,  3J4.  325 ;   visit   to  Califor- 
nia, :;27;  separation  from  the  Re- 
publican party,  325.  336:  hi*  pro- 
posed "New  Departure,"  832,  883, 
834 ;  bis  visit  to  Greeley,  332;  his 
account  of  the  <  ineinnati  con- 
vention, 387  *8,  8W,  340.  811:  his 
canvaa  for  Greeley,  841,  :Al,  848, 


.tn  .vi.-,.  :-.ir,.  :v47  :M-  \uit  to  Chief 
Justice  Chase  and  Charles  Sum- 
tier.  :i  0.  331;  comments  on  the 
death  o!i;r»-i-l.-> 

.'iTixi«,S6.  y.i.  117. 
Kanxas,  admission  refused    170 

v  .  ir.l.  171 
Kelly.  \Vin.  !>..   :W;  his  pow. 

voice,  364.  865. 
Ki-ndull.  Amu*,  23. 

!y.  AiKlrcw.  116. 
Kcriian.  Finni-ln,  Ml. 
K.rr.  MifliiieU:.,  854,865. 
King,  Proton.  56.  73.   111.  118,126. 
King.  John  A.  148 
Know-Nothing  jwrly,  the  forma- 
tion  oi,   140    its  character,  140, 
141.  142:  rt-fi-r.  n.v  to,  178. 


s,  103. 
v,  Henry  .S.,  39,  116,  177,  244,  354 


m. 


,  Joseph,  nominated  for  vice- 
li  nt,  176. 

J,aw.  John,:  9. 

I^eagne.  Nutionnl  I'nlon,  it>i  resolu- 
tion in  favor  of  confiscation  <>t 
rebel  lands,  242. 

Leavitt,  Joshua.  67;   speech  of,  60. 

Lecompton  i'<  institution,  160.  101 

Lee,  General,  248. 

Legislation  as  to  lead  and  CMJ.;  .  : 
lands.  281.  is-. 

IxiwK  Samuel,  57.  119.  124. 

l.il.  rty  party  defended,  42,  43. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  his  joint  debate 
with  I  oiiglag,  168;  nominated  for 
president.  177;  jiereonal  descrip- 
tion of,  182:  inauguration  of.  is7. 
188  his  encounter  with  the  office- 
seekers,  193.  194;  anecdote  con- 
<  i  ruing,  211;  repuhlican  opposi- 
tion to.  220,  238;  his  reply  to  Gree- 
ley, 221;  opposed  to  Issuing  the 
Proclamation  of  Emancipation, 


INDEX. 


381 


and  in  favor  of  colonizing  the 
negroes,  226.  227;  opposition  to, 
247;  letter  to  A.  G.  Hodges,  239, 
240;  nomination  for  president  in 
1864,  243;  feeling  against  him,  243, 
244;  his  last  utterances  on  recon- 
struction, 256 ;  his  assassination, 
255,  256  ;  his  funeral,  258. 

Literary  World,  98. 

Log  cabin  songs,  18,  19,  20,  21. 

Lord,  Rev.  Dr.,  97. 

Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  22. 

J.ovejoy,  Owen,  148;  his  contest 
with  Wickliffe.  306. 

Lundy,  Benj ,  his  newspaper,  22. 

MALLORY,  RoBicnr,  his  angry  as- 
sault, 241,  242 ;  reference  to.  250. 

Mann,  Horace,  111,  118. 

Mansfield,  General,  197. 

Marshall,  Humphrey,  111. 

Marshall,  Joseph  G.,  39. 

Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  39. 

Marcy,  Wm.  I...  120 

Martineau,  Harriet,  112,  324,  32-"). 

Mason,  James  M.,  Ill,  168. 

Matthews,  Stanley,  3  8,  310 

McKim,  J.  Miller,  29. 

McClellan,  General  George  B.,  '201, 
203,  204,  205,  206.  209,  210,  211!,  217. 

McCrary,  Geo.  W.,  354. 

McCulU.ugh,  Hugh,  286. 

McDonald,  Joseph  E.,  117. 

McDougall,  James  A.,  2oO. 

McDowell,  James,  111. 

McGaughey,  Kdward  W.,  117. 

McMullen.  Fayette.  254. 

Mearl,  Richard  K  ,  109. 

Mendenhall,  Mr.,  37. 

Mercury,  Charleston,  188. 

Millson,  John  S.,  171. 

Military  bill.  306,  307,  303. 

Mineral  lands,  281. 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  118, 155,  167:  his 
speech  to  President  Johnson  on 
Reconsi ruction,  260,  261,  262 ;  his 


opposition  to  negro  suffrage,  263e 
264;  his  Richmond  speech  against" 
264,  26  >,  266, 267.  268, 269;  his  char- 
acter, 2G9,  'J70;  his  personal  hostil- 
ity, 270  271 ;  reference  to,  302, 303, 
334,  335,  342,  354.  358,  359. 

Morgan,  Edwin  D  ,  35  J. 

Morgan,  John,  his  raid  into  Indi- 
ana, 232,  233. 

Merrill,  Lott  M..  354. 

Mott,  Lucretia,  99, 2SL 

NATIONAL  ERA,  102, 143 

National  Convention,  Democratic, 
174,  175, 176. 

National  Convention,  Republican, 
176,  177. 

Nation,  The,  340. 

Negro  Suffrage,  established  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  271,  27i 

New  England  States,  their  land 
laws,  296,  ^97. 

Nevada,  legislative  report  on  min- 
eral lands,  289,  290,  291. 

Niolack,  Wm.  E  ,  354. 

Nye,  James  W.,  56. 

ODELL,  MOSES  F  .  201. 

Olin,  Abraham  B.,  361. 

Orr,  James  L.,  111. 

Orth,  Godlove  S.,  354. 

Osborn,   Chares,   his   anti-slavery 

newspaper,  22. 
Otto,  Wm.  T.,  229. 

PALFREY,  DR.,  100. 

Parker,  Samuel  W.,  59 ;  his  politi- 
cal somersault,  117. 

Parker,  Theodore,  100. 

Peace  Congress,  185,"  1S6. 

Pendleton,  Geo.  H.,  250  354,  365. 

Petit,  John,  161. 

Phillips,  Stephen  C.,  55. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  first  meeting 
with.  101,  307. 

Pierrpont,  Rev.  John,  369. 


/.V/V..V. 


HMY*.  Franklin,  nominated  for 
president,  IS);  Inauguration  of, 
134.W5. 

like.  Frederick  A  .  3C3. 

Polk,  Jitmes  K..  his  nomination 
for  president,  83;  his  Kane  letter, 
85;  his  war  menage,  46. 

Pomeroy,  Samuel  C.,  2J6,  237;  hit 
ctroulRr.  237. 

I'ortor,  Admiral.  238. 

Post,  Boston,  199. 

Potomac,  army  of.  the  division  Into 
Corp*.  201,  205. 

I 'otter  John  F..  354;  his  challenge 
to  flght  Roger  A  I'ryor,  3«2.  903. 

••! i>:i" n.  r.ght  of,  opinion  of 
attorney  general  on,  299.  300;  de- 
cision of  supreme  court  on,  801. 

Premiss.  S.  8.,  89. 

Preston  W.  C..  89. 

Problcnui  of  the  future.  873,  874. 

Proclamation  of  emancipation, 
preliminary. 222;  final,  2.16.  _'J7. 

Proffltt,  George  H.,  89. 

Proviso,  Wilmot,  first  introduction 
of,  47;  reference  to.  79, 136. 

Pryor.  Roger  A.,  171. 

Public  Lands,  committee  on  the. 
its  report  against  land  bounties. 
279. 280;  Its.  bill  providing  for  the 
sale  of  mineral  lands,  286,  291. 

K  AKDALI.,  SAMDEL  J.,  854,  365. 

Kantoul,  Robert,  118, 125. 

Raymond  Hcnrj-  J.,  his  speech  on 
reconstruction,  307, 354,  868. 

lUyner.  Kenneth,  151. 

Reconstruction,  committee  on,  272; 
opp>8itlon  to- hasty,  905,  806;  ter- 
ritorial plan  of.  805. 

Reform,  Civil  Service.  244. 

Remelin,  Charles,  spec,  h  in  tin- 
Pittsburg  convention.  119. 

Republican  party,  the  formation 
of.  143.  144.  145,  147,  14*.  149,  150 ; 
its  mission  accomplished,  330;  its 


demon! Isatiin.  380,  8J1,  883. 
Ul.ett.  Robert  B.,  84. 
Richardson.  Win.  A..  854. 
KMdlo.  (i.'o.  l: 
Robinson,  John  L..  39. 
Ko'.Hns.  James  H.,351.  863 
Root,  Joseph  M.,  73. 
Ross.  James.  111. 
ROSS,  Edmund  (J.,  317. 

SAUBURY.  WII.I.AI:!' 

'ieni Till  \Vlniidd,  83;  nomi- 
nated   for   president,    l-'l  ; 
cnce  to.  187;  unbounded  confi- 
dence in,  196. 

-.•'i.-nck.  Robert  C.,  his  land  boun- 
ty bill,  ^80;  reference  to,  814. 

::•! 

Schurz.  Carl,  3'1.  339,  354.  .%&,  »59. 

Sentinel,  The.  state  organ  of  Indi- 
ana Democrats,  117, 118. 

.-'ewiird.  Win.  II.,  his  sp?ech  in 
Cleveland,  64;  reference  to,  93. 
10\  111;  reward  offered  for  his 
head.  173 ;  anti-slavery  distrust  of. 
l'J">;  !.|*;cch  in  ihe  Senate.  185; 
remarkable  utterances,  189,  190; 
reference  to,  213.  214;  desertion 
from  the  Republican  party,  33 J. 

Seymour,  Horatio.  320. 

.    Mimuel,  his    action 
ro   suffrage,    80S! 
.  3  4. 

-heriuan,  John,  116,  85t,  859 

Sherman,  General,  his  capitulation 
with  General  Johnmn.  2  <7,  258. 

Shield',  General  James,  loa 

Silver  Grey  Whigs,  173, 174. 

Slavery,  first  publication  against, 
22,  23;  political  action  against- 
24, '25;  anti-slavery  pr^rv-s,  25- 
26,27,  :••<,  •_".•;  in  the  presidential 
;  canvass  of  1814,  31,  32.  33,  34.  85, 
36,  87, 38, 41 ;  opposition  to  aboli- 
tionism. 42.  43.  41.  45 ;  In  the  can- 
vass Of  1848,  51,  02,  63,  54,  65,  56, 


INDEX. 


383 


57,58,59,  60,  61,  C2,  63;  abuse  of 
anti-slavery  men,  65,  66,  67:  at- 
tempt  to  settle  by  compromise. 
€9,  70,  71,  79,  80;  in  the  Territo- 
ries, 84,  87;  anti-slavery  and 
pro-slavery  publications,  97,  98, 
102;  black  codes  of  Indiana  and 
Illinois.  115;  anti-slavery  prog- 
ress, 116,  117,  118,  119.  122.  129, 
180;  in  the  Thirty-third  Con- 
gress, ia>,  136,  1H7,  138;  in  the 
Thirty-fourth  Congress,  146,  150, 
i51,  152,  153,  154,  155,  156;  anti- 
slavery  progress,  158,  159,  160, 
161;  in  the  Thirty-sixth  Con- 
gress, 68.  169,  170,  171,  172,  173  ; 
in  the  canvass  of  1860,  176.  177, 
178, 179, 180;  slavery  and  the  war. 
184,  18o,  186;  apologetic  action 
of  Congress  toward,  197.  198  ; 
anti-slavery  criticism  of  the 
President,  221,  222  ;  slavery  and 
confiscation,  242,  245,  246  ;  con- 
stitutional amendment  abolish- 
ing, 249,  250,  251,  252  ;  prolonged 
struggle  against,  321,  322  ;  slav- 
ery and  the  Liberal  Republicans, 
34:5.344,345,  346,  347;  effect  Ol  its 
introduction  into  politics,  353 
355;  effect  of  its  withdrawal  from 
politics,  372  ;  lesson  of  the  anti- 
slavery  conflict,  373,  374 

Slave  Trade,  African,  169. 

Smith,  Caleb  B.,  182,  214;  favors 
colonization,  226,  227 ;  reference 
to,  284. 

Smith,  Gerritt,  J35,  231.  370. 

Smith,  Oliver  H.,  39. 

Soule,  Pierre,  108, 109 

Southern  Homestead  bill,  passage 
of,  240. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  appointed 
secretary  of  war,  204 ;  conference 
•with,  210 :  hostility  to  General 
McClellan,  210 ;  anecdote  of,  211. 
212;  estrangement  between  and 


General  Sherman,  258  ;  removed 
from  office,  313. 

Stanton,  Benjamin,  146. 

Stanton,  Henry  B.,  57. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  his  reply  to 
Meade,  109, 110;  reply  to  Ross,  110; 
reference  to,  118,  306 ;  his  power 
in  debate  and  leadership,  308,  309, 
310 ;  chairman  of  committee  on 
articles  of  impeachment,  313; 
personal  description  of,  313,  314. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  49,  54, 109, 
111,  125. 

Stewar;,  A.  T.,-326. 

Stewart,  Wm.  T.,  287,  291. 

Stockton,  Commodore,  151. 

Stuart,  Rev.  Moses,  97. 

Sumuer,  Charles,  71,  100,  102,118; 
his  motion  to  repeal  the  Fugitive 
Slave  act,  119 ;  his  speech  on  the 
Barbarism  of  Slavery,  170;  refer- 
ence to,  :95,  252,  263, 326 ;  his  sep- 
aration from  the  Kepublican 
party,  322,  334 ;  his  desertion  by 
his  political  friends,  350;  refer- 
ence to,  364. 

Sumner,  General,  224,  356. 

Surratt,  Mrs.,  362. 

Suscol  Ranch,  rights  of  settlers 
on,  299,  300,  301. 

Swamp  Land  act,  98,  99. 

Swariwout,  Samuel,  14. 

TANEY,  CHIEF  JUSTICE,  159. 
Taylor,  Znehary,  46 :  his  letters,  58, 

54;  nominated  for  president,  55  : 

his  death,  93;  administration,  105. 
Temperance,  105,  106;  the  question 

considered,  138, 139. 
Thompson,  Richard  W.,  39, 116. 
Thompson,  James,  engineers  the 

Fugitive  Slave  bill,  96. 
Thurman,  Allen  G.,  354,  358. 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  56, 125. 
Tilton,  Theodore,  303. 
Times,  The  Chicago,  199. 


TOOTH*,  Robert.*!,  100,  111,125. 
Townacnd,  I  ir.  Jacob,  9X 

Tribune.  The  New  York,  166.  143, 

184;  iu  courae  on  the  right  «>t  -.-- 

cession.  IHI. 
Trumbull.  I,\  mini,   nr>:   author  of 

XIII  ('<  until  m  tonal  Amendment. 

160;  reference  to,  318,  *».  8  ».  8M. 

ML 

Tack.  Amos,  45,73,118. 
Turner.  Nnt.,  22. 
Tyler.  John,  his  political  charm 

ter.  IS. 

VALLAM>IN.  H\M.  r.  L.,   2S- 
.306. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  Whlgestlmat 
of,  11, 12;  his  devotion  to  slavery, 
•J4:  letter  on  annexation, 
feated  by  Polk  in  1S4I,  33;  nomi- 
nation at  Baftalo,  06.  57,  58,  :>'J; 
reference  to.  70. 71.  l.n.  12:..  i  j 

Van  Wyck.  Cliark-s  II.,  36-t. 

Vlnlon.  Samnel  F..  111. 

Von  Hoist.  Prolesso'  '.TO. 

Voorheea,  Daniel  \V..  •££>.  254. 

WADK,  BKNJAMIM  F.  135.  201,  220, 
289.246.  254.  258.  263.  819,  .154,  355. 

Wade.  Edward.  135. 

Wallace.  DaT<d.  116.  1C  I. 

Walker.  Robert  J 

Walker.  Isaac  P..  103. 

Washburne,  Elihu  B ,  146.  ?54;  his 
controversy  with  Donnelly,  966. 


Washington,  its  co-i.liilon 

the  war,  370,  S71,  872. 
Watson,  ivter  II..  -Jll. 
Webster,  Daniel,  89,  71:  hi*  seventh 

ol  March  iipeech,  «6,  87;  riillculo 

the  higher  law,  n>,   . •ntnltdato 

for  preaident,  Ul.  u  . 
Weed,  Thurlow.  hi*  «\>\>  sition  to 

the.  hotnestc.: '  I  lnu 
Weitxel.  General.  I 
!  Whalcy.  K.-lllun  V 
Will),'.  The  Rlchmon-1.  188 
Whig  party,  surrender  <>f,  12.',  129. 
Whltcomb,  James.  89. 
1  White.  J.neph  L .  39.  :>7.  71. 
Whiting,  William.  211.24&. 
Wliii  i  .HO. 

Wick,  William  W..  89. 
Wllmot,  David,  introduces  his  |>r<>- 

viJio,  47;  reference  to.  74,  76,  95. 
Wilson,    Henry,    his   treatment  of 

Know-Nothiimltm,  55. 143;   rei.-r- 

i-ii'-i-  to,  lie,,  -J1J,  ^">l,  357. 
Wil-on,  James  F.,  354, 864. 
Winthrop.  Kobert  C..  109. 
WUr.  Henry  A 
Woodbury.  General,  12». 
Wood,  n  guns,  208. 
Wood.  Fernando.  '.56. 
Woods.  W.  L,,  255. 
Woodward,  Geo.  W.,  "  1 
Worth.  Rev.  Daniel.  173. 
Wright.  Joseph  A..  89. 
Wright,  Si. as,  89,  i 

YAT«,  RICHARD.  854. 


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